Guardian Cryptic 27,903 by Vulcan

by

An odd experience solving and blogging – I delayed writing this blog thinking there had been a mistake as I’d seen this puzzle before. Looking at last weeks’ blogs and the comments on the Guardian site it seems that this was originally published online for a time in place of last Thursday’s Paul.

A quick solve even the first time round, and with some nice clues: my favourites were 9ac, 6dn, and 13dn. Thanks to Vulcan.

Across
1 GENERATE Produce DNA sequence with speed (8)
GENE=”DNA sequence” + RATE=”speed”
5 EMIGRE Victim of regime change? (6)
(regime)*
9 SCRAPHEAP Where paper cash may be thrown eventually? (9)
(paper cash)*
11 NOOKS Retreats in numbers, receiving permission (5)
“Retreats” as in ‘places to hide away’
NO.S=”numbers” around OK=”permission”
12 BLOODSTAINED Such clothing perhaps taken by police, marked in red (12)
not sure if this is more than a cryptic-ish definition
15 LORE Learning jurisprudence, some may say (4)
homophone/”some might say” of ‘law’=”jurisprudence”
16 ADAMS APPLE Very tempting to eat, but it’s stuck in the throat (5,5)
a reference to the biblical apple; and another biological definition
18 MY FAIR LADY A beauty of a musical (2,4,4)
“A beauty” as a second loose definition/indication
19 TAXI Vehicle I put on charge (4)
I put after TAX=”charge”
21 DISINTEGRATE I get strained terribly and fall apart (12)
(I get strained terribly)*
24 OLIVE Sort of green circuit carrying current (5)
O=circle=”circuit” + LIVE=”carrying current”
25 STILL ROOM Pantry‘s such a quiet place (9)
STILL=”quiet” + ROOM=”place”
26 SONATA Moonlight, for example, in which boy’s regularly astray (6)
referring to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata
SON=”boy” + regular letters from AsTrAy
27 STARKERS People gawping around king ‘in his new clothes‘ (8)
STARERS=”People gawping” around K (king)
Down
1 GASH Cut Goodwood? (4)
G=”Good” + ASH=”wood”
2 NARK Annoy police informer (4)
double definition
3 RAPTLY Romeo appropriately with eager attention (6)
R=Romeo in the phonetic alphabet + APTLY=”appropriately”
4 THE GONDOLIERS Stage work long theorised to be faulty (3,10)
=a Gilbert and Sullivan opera
(long theorised)*
6 MANIACAL Graduate turning up in a state, raving (8)
MA=Master of Arts=”Graduate” + reversal/”turning up” of IN + A + CAL[ifornia]=”a state”
7 GROUND PLAN Stadium scheme in general outline (6,4)
GROUND=”Stadium” + PLAN=”scheme”
8 EASY DOES IT Simple to make site changes: take it gently (4,4,2)
EASY=”Simple” + DO=”make” + (site)*
10 POSTMODERNIST Impostor tends to be represented as artist (13)
(Imposter tends)*
13 ALL MOD CONS What the ideal home should have: cold salmon salad (3,3,4)
(cold salmon salad)*
14 PROFESSION Calling for a declaration (10)
double definition
17 TINNIEST Like sound from worst head­phones (Aussie cans), terrible at first (8)
TINNIES=”Aussie cans” of beer; plus first letter of Terrible
20 STALER Sister admitting story is not so new (6)
SR=abbr. for “Sister” around TALE=”story”
22 SORE Such a thumb to stick out? (4)
referring to the expression ‘stick out like a SORE thumb’
23 EMUS Half of them going to America — they don’t fly (4)
half of [th]EM + US=”America”

23 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,903 by Vulcan”

  1. Thanks Vulcan and manehi

    I can sum, this up by saying that if I had bothered to do it again I wouldn’t have been much quicker than last time!

    Lovely Quiptic from Matilda today, though.

  3. First time around for me. I liked it. I ticked 16a ADAM’S APPLE, 27a STARKERS (though I thought he was an emperor not a king), 17a TINNIEST and 23d EMUS as enjoyable clues.

    Thanks to Vulcan and manehi.

  4. No question marks, standard Vulcan Monday, slowed momentarily by scanning, seeing 10d immediately but writing it a bit later, carelessly putting ‘ism’ rather than ‘ist’ then having to correct to get starkers, which was quite witty. Loi taxi, a gimme, trying to make it more exotic to extend the solve. Ditto Adams apple, forgetting the legend re the original sin sticking in his craw (as I’m sure I’ve said before, I bet it was him who took the first bite, later edited by the bloke scribes). Thanks both.

  5. Thank you Vulcan for a fun puzzle and manehi for a helpful blog – I was not sure about TINNIES.

    J in A, I think 27a might be referring to The King’s New Clothes … not sure if this will come up, it is Danny Kaye singing the song.

  6. Saw this puzzle on Thursday but didn’t tackle it then and it had been deleted by the time I had finished the Paul – it was an obvious mistake because it showed a silly number and publication date – it was uploaded without the leading 2 which confused the Guardian’s software.

    All pretty straightforward, fine for a Monday

    Thanks to Vulcan and manehi

  7. First time round for me. My favourites were DISINTEGRATE, EMUS, STARKERS.

    I failed to solve SORE (thumb).

    Thanks manehi and Vulcan.

  10. [Thanks Cookie, for the link.

    We have a propensity to add “ies” to everything in Australia, and “tinnies” for cans of beer is common parlance, as in barbies for barbecues, bikkies for biscuits and Brissie for Brisbane (my capital city)]

  11. I had to resort to running through the alphabet to get taxi from *a*i, not sure why as it’s an old saw in crosswords.

    I can never get how “A on B” can mean BA in this sort of clue. To me it’s clear A has to come first, and I really can’t see how any reasonable interpretation could reverse it. It’s common enough that I’ve come to expect it, but I just don’t get it!

     

  13. Typo in the blog at 13d. “Salad” is the anagram indicator, not part of the anagram.

    Thanks both.

  15. A pleasant Monday puzzle.  I thought 21a DISINTEGRATE and 10d POSTMODERNIST were clever anagrams.  My one quibble was, as others have said, that 12a BLOODSTAINED didn’t really seem to be very cryptic, and I’m sure Vulcan could have produced something better.  I tried to come up with something and got:

    In loo dead bints awfully gory (12)

    which I accept is perhaps a bit unpleasant.  Any other suggestions?

    howard @11: “on” can mean in contact with any side or surface of something.  Someone can have a scar on their body and it doesn’t have to be on the front or on the back.  There was a recent discussion in an Everyman blog as to whether in a down clue “on” must mean “on top of”, and the blogger (Sil van den Hoek) pointed out that a spider can be on the ceiling.

    Thanks Vulcan and manehi.

  16. Like Michelle @7, I failed to get SORE, annoyingly. Other than that, reasonable Monday fare.

    Thanks to Vulcan and manehi.

  17. Lord Jim @15, what about “Gory twisted dead boil, with cut stone (12)” for a quick try.

    Nothing too complex today, LOI SORE.

    Thanks setter and bloggers

  19. Thanks, manehi.

    Mixed bag. I groaned at regime change for EMIGRE *again.* Liked the POSTMODERNIST anagram very much; found some of the cryptic definitions lacking in crypticness. I did appreciate “some might say” at 15a, since law and lore don’t sound remotely alike for many English speakers.

     

  20. lord jim @15 Thanks for the linguistic interpretation. I find the example of the spider is particularly convincing. It’s just a mental blind spot I have.

  22. First time for me and I rather liked it esp GENERATE and STARKERS. I had CONFESSION got 14dn initially so LORE was LOI. I thought this was Vulcan at his best.
    Thanks Vulcan.

  23. Thank you to Vulcan and Manehi -but thank you also to the wonderful people who provided alternate cryptic clues for “bloodstained” … @21 Van Winkle – I would never solve that, without the crossers, but loved it nonetheless.   I think gory is a better synonym than ruddy for bloodstained,  … but “twisted dead boil” is certainly unpleasant Roberto @17.

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