Guardian Cryptic 27,970 by Puck

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[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

A slow and tough solve, with a lot of clever and witty cluing. Favourites 10ac, 11ac, 3dn, 4dn, 13dn, and especially 23ac.

There is a theme around the album CHANGING HORSES [wiki] by the Incredible String Band, which has the songs: BIG[o]TED, White Bird [25ac surface], DUST Be DIAMONDS, SLEEPERS AWAKE, Mr and Mrs [15ac surface], and CREATION

Across
8 SLEEPERS Kippers? They’re on the way from Mallaig to Fort William (8)
definition referring to the sleepers in railroad tracks, such as between Mallaig and Fort William
a ‘kip’ is a nap, so “Kippers” might also mean sleepers
9 AWAKE Aroused by adult party in Ireland (5)
A (adult) + WAKE=”party in Ireland”
10 ODER Flower that’s yellow, outside Germany or in it (4)
a ‘flower’ as in a river
OR=”yellow” outside DE (Deutschland)=”Germany”
ODER also =”or in it [Germany]”, as it is the German word for ‘or’
11 BARRACKING Carmen in East London area, leading to boos and hisses? (10)
RAC (Royal Automobile Club)=”Car / men”, inside BARKING=”East London area”
12 SOWING Unsettled after Scientology’s first dissemination (6)
OWING=”Unsettled” as in settling a bill; after S[cientology]
14 DIAMONDS Ice pack only partially needed (8)
“Ice” is slang for the gemstones; and DIAMONDS are also part of a pack of cards
15 HITCHED Like Mr & Mrs Smith, finally was dying (7)
[Smit]H + ITCHED=”was dying” as in ‘they itched for a challenge’
17 BIGOTED Sexually ambivalent? Leave chap from the ’50s, intolerant of others’ ideas (7)
BI=”Sextually ambivalent” + GO=”Leave” + TED=”chap from the ’50s” referring to ‘Teddy Boys’ [wiki]
20 CHANGING Conservative leader suspended for being shifty? (8)
C[onservative] + HANGING=”leader”
22 HORSES Arabs perhaps coming from other shores (6)
Arab is a breed of horse
(shores)*
23 DISINHERIT Delete from Will‘s Tinder his raving about me subjectively (10)
(Tinder his)* around I=”me subjectively”
24 DUST Little bits of dirt under sofas, typically (4)
letters taken from D[irt] U[nder] S[ofas] T[ypically]
25 EGRET Rue missing intro for White Bird (5)
[r]EGRET=”Rue” missing its first letter
26 CREATION Striking hat? It might be Haydn’s (8)
=an elaborate garment e.g. a hat; =a piece of music by Haydn
Down
1 GLADIOLI Bloomers German chap initially lampooned in Room 101 (8)
G (German) + LAD=”chap” + L[ampooned] in IOI=”101″
2 HERR Woman’s right to a German address? (4)
HER=”Woman” + R (right)
3 TEABAG Leaves through different gate, admits airline (6)
(gate)* around BA (British Airways)=”airline”
4 ASTRIDE A way to go on 22 across? (7)
and =”A way to go on HORSES”
5 MAHARANI Indian princess has hair a man styled (8)
(hair a man)*
6 DARK COLOUR Cloak our resident Druid originally ordered in black? (4,6)
(Cloak our r D)*, using letters from r[esident] D[ruid]
7 REINED As 22 across might be, by one German in 6, perhaps (6)
HORSES might be REINED
EIN=”one [in] German”, inside RED=”DARK COLOUR, perhaps”
13 INCENDIARY Explosive new book describing dates with former England footballer (10)
N (new) + DIARY=”book describing dates”; after Paul INCE=”former England footballer”
16 EPITHETS Descriptive words no good for teeth pig’s lost (8)
(teeth pig‘s)*, minus the g for “good”
18 EVERSION Turning out to be the online type (8)
E- prefix indicating electronic/”online” + VERSION=”type”
19 AGARICS Fungi with some seaweed one’s eating cold (7)
AGAR=”seaweed” + I’S=”one’s” around C (cold)
21 HAILED Acknowledged Henry was unwell (6)
H (Henry, the SI unit of inductance) + AILED=”was unwell”
22 HOTBED Sexy bottom? It might encour­age rapid but unwelcome developments (6)
HOT=”Sexy” + BED=”bottom”
24 DATE See one’s stoned (4)
=”See” romantically; =a fruit with a stone

54 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,970 by Puck”

  1. Thanks Puck and manehi

    It went fairly smoothly for me, though I missed the initial letters for DUST. I didn’t see the theme, of course! BARRACKING was favourite.

  2. Some neat and amusing cluing.

    Kicking myself for not parsing 10ac completely.

    Apropos 22dn, if you’re a gardener the rapid developments in your hotbed won’t be unwelcome, so I think the clue could have lost “but unwelcome” and remained pleasantly Pauline.

  3. Thanks Manehi – this went pretty easily for me too. I thought the theme might be German-related, as there were at least four mentions of it in the clues without any further apparent explanation. The actual theme I’m rather glad to say I missed, as the ISB are a particular bugbear of mine. Despite repeated attempts, and what I like to think of as catholic musical taste, I’ve never fathomed their appeal, beyond being some kind of elaborate stoned hippy hoax.

  4. Can’t remember whether or not Puck is into the gallops, but today was Melbourne Cup day, the race that stops the nation; 22s from worldwide, lots of loud 17, fabulous 26s on the ladies’ heads, not too many 3s but rather gallons of fizz. (And a homegrown gg won, holding off the foreign raiders; hey ho).

  5. Oddly for a crusty old atheist, I didn’t mind the odd ISB track (And Nicholas saw the last of them one misty twisty morn), but wouldn’t have picked the theme in a fit.

    Failed on Herr, grrr, neat clue, as were Oder, hitched, bi go ted and teabag. Enjoyed, thanks Puck and Manehi.

  7. 15a HITCHED has a nice extra dimension, in that the third Hollywood film directed by (Alfred) Hitch(cock) was MR & MRS SMITH. Not one of his best.

  8. I still have a few Incredible String Band LPs stashed in the attic – but I’d never have spotted that theme!  But I do recall another ISB-centric puzzle here a while back – was that Puck too…?

  9. Answers easy, parsing less so. Heard of ISB, but not the album. A couple of uncomfortable surfaces I thought, but nicely Puckish.

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

     

     

  11. Puck has done more than one ISB-themed puzzle. The only one I conquered was the “Big Huge” one – the only album of theirs that I have.

  12. Another who missed the theme and would never have seen it. “sleepers awake” and “creation” suggestion something more classical for me. I had assumed that the sleeper referred to the old Caledonian sleeper service but further research shows that it ends at Fort Bill and it’s the West Coast Highland line from there to Mallaig. So I got the right answer for the wrong reason.

    A lot to like here but I thought “dust” was very weak – nothing to indicate first letters, some double duty (dirt) and a distinct feeling of “it may be right but I’m not sure”. “diamonds” was another where the answer was nicely hidden but the cryptic second definition didn’t pin it down enough for me. Nevertheless, many thanks Puck, and manehi for adding depth to “oder” that I had missed…a very neat clue.

  13. I also interpreted ASTRIDE as GeoffCl and grantinfreo did. If the definition is just “across” then the “22” is ambiguous; Puck was not ambiguous in 7d.

    Thanks Puck and manehi

     

  15. Thwarted by Hitched for a while, but enjoyed Puck’s habitual mischief this morning. Not sure whether many would have remembered Paul Ince, Man United fans I suppose…

  16. Dave Ellison @ 13. No ambiguity… A / way / to go on 22 (to go on horses) = A / St / Ride which means across.

    I enjoyed this, clever cluing rather throughout and hitched was particularly good.

    ‘Room’ in 1D and ‘not welcome’ in 22A seemed surplus to requirement.

  17. Dave Ellison @ 13.. Although I guess I missed your point (’22’ rather than ’22 across’), It works with go = ride and ‘on 22 across?’ as the definition.

  18. All good clean fun. Respect to Manehi for spotting the theme. Changing Horses was never a favourite ISB for me – too ethereal. Did like the cover tho. Bought my copy off a sociology lecturer who went to work for Mugabe in the heady days before it all went wrong.

    Thirded on ASTRIDE. Also assumed the sleeper service for 8a even though it didn’t really fit. The MAHARANI is our best local curry house so swiftly solved. Favourite was DISINHERIT.

    Thanks P&M

  19. Lovely – just my Goldilocks degree of difficulty.

    Completely missed the theme, of course.  Now feel as though I dived into the pool without getting wet.

    One quiblet: in the R(EIN)ED clue, I presume the implication is that red is a dark colour.  Seems a little odd?

    Super crossword and blog, many thanks to both.

    Nice week, all.

     

  20. …Oh, meant to question where is the ‘hat’ reference in CREATION?  Could equally apply to just about anything, couldn’t it?

  21. I’m still not sure that I understand 26, even with the explanation. Without the theme and the intersecting letters, how could this be solved?

    Interestingly, 11 has exactly the opposite definition in Australia. People here ‘barrack’ for their teams, so there are cheers and whoops rather than boos and hisses.

  22. No probleM with DUST for me – I had ‘little bits’ both as definition and indicator that one needed little bits of the words that followed. Thought it was clever. Favourite was DISINHERIT.

  23. Entertaining solve without any knowledge of the theme.

    It was a bit naughty to put a redundant ‘room’ in 1D just for the sake of the surface.

    I thought the clue for ODER was very clever with its different layers of meaning.

    Thanks Puck and manehi.

  25. Chips n Gravy @22; as manehi shows with the underlining; the clue for DUST was supposed to be an &lit with the whole clue as definition. An alternative might have been: ‘Leads to dirt …’ which might have been less ambiguous.

  26. Lovely puzzle. One learns so much about esoteric art in this case music from the likes of Puck I will now dig out the LP from the lift! Also will revisit Haydn’ masterpiece.

  28. Very enjoyable. I found the four clues in my last corner (EVERSION, CREATION, DUST and DATE) the most difficult, despite knowing Haydn’s Creation.
    The theme went completely unnoticed!
    Of many good clues I liked SLEEPERS, BARRACKING and INCENDIARY the best.
    Thanks to Puck and manehi.

  29. I am in the slow solve group, this seemed to take an age, but I got there in the end. Held up for ages in the SE, particularly with the fungi and the two four letter clues. The last overall was hitched, which now is among my favourites. I also liked barracking and diamonds and thanks to both Puck and manehi.

  30. So we have from Puck
    Woman’s right to a German address = HERR?
    but did you realize
    Woman’s right to the French-German address = FRAU?

    Anyway, White Bird sent me in a different direction entirely. It’s a Beautiful Day from Fillmore: The Last Days. Take a listen – that violin!

  33. Cheers Doc – always partial to a bit of West Coast. Just beamed up the album from Tidal (other streaming services are available) and will listen this arvo.

  34. A few of these went in unparsed. I can now add BARRACKING, Paul Ince, RAC = auto club, and kip = nap to my list of UK-centric things to remember.

    The superfluous Room in 1d seems a bit unfair to me, and I would have expected the clue for 18d to be accompanied by a question mark. Perhaps just sour grapes, as I missed both?

    I don’t mean to be too negative in my comments, because there was much to enjoy here. Thanks to Puck and manehi.

  35. Gertrude Shilling lives! I am happy with JSB and JH, but the ISB was in my brother’s collection, not mine (though the sounds coming through the wall seemed nice). I too think (to reply to DaveinNCarolina) that the Room is indeed excessive. I think Ximenes and the gods of economy would frown; but we can see what he was getting at, and “room” as “space occupied” means it’s possibly OK?

  36. INCE.. was LOI – should have got The Guv’nor far faster! Egret went in easily, as it’s been my pleasure to observe growing numbers of them visiting our shores over the last few years (and even breeding I believe?). I’m totally with Bullhassocks @3 regarding ISB, so no chance of getting the theme (and, like others, thought it was a German or equine theme, if anything). Overall, tough (for me) but enjoyable. Completed it but needed manehi’s fine blog to parse a handful.

    Thanks to P & m, and to y’all for the interesting comments.

  38. In case anyone has missed it, “Room 101” is a reference to 1984 by Orwell, and subsequently a TV programme in which guests argue for what should be sent there.

  39. I’m with Ian @ 21 regarding 26. Not being familiar with classical music I had no chance of making the connection. The rest I really enjoyed with lots of “aha” moments, though I agree that DUST was very loose.

  40. I rather enjoyed this. I particularly liked CREATION,HERR and SLEEPERS and quite a lot of others actually. I admit that HITCHED was a guess because the clue appeared tome to be extremely weak.
    I never understood the attraction of ISB.The vocals sounded like an ice cream van being dragged across a corrugated roof to me. Last time we had an ISB theme I streamed a selection of albums to see if I’d misjudged them and I found they were as unpalatable to me as I remembered. Possibly my loss but —!
    Thanks Puck.

  41. Anyone else try ELECTION at 18d? After all, ‘turning out’ is what we are expected to be doing on December 12th, heaven help us.

    Of course, the rest of the clue didn’t parse.

    Thanks Puck for an enjoyable challenge, with some notably inventive surfaces.

  42. Super puzzle by one of my favourite setters. I see both DUST and ASTRIDE as &lits. I agree that “room” is superfluous in 1, but I justified it by thinking of a hotel room where only the numbers appear on the door. Describing red as a “dark colour perhaps” seems to be stretching it to me as well, although one could argue it’s necessarily on the darker side, since light red would be pink.
    Much enjoyed. Thanks Puck and manehi, particularly for the added wrinkle to ODER. Very clever.
    P. S. Thanks for the addendum, Cedric. I had visions of you owning a skyscraper in which one of the elevators was dedicated to your record collection!

  44. Very Puckish. I took ASTRIDE to be an &lit also.
    I missed the ODER = or link, though it’s also a river in Germany.
    Thanks manehi and of course Puck.

  45. Never heard of ISB or any of their albums or songs. Am I suffering a yawning abyss in my cultural knowledge or should I traipse onward in blissful ignorance?

  46. A TEABAG is a CREATION consisting mainly of DUST. However if you use two and give them a good squeeze you will achieve a DARK COLOUR

  48. 8a was easy but very loose, I thought. Sleepers are on the way from anywhere to anywhere else by rail.
    23a What a surface!
    7d easy but loose again – dark colour,perhaps = red, orjust about any other colour.
    Not one of my favourite Puck puzzles. Perhaps he was struggling to fit in the theme which I missed. Thanks all the same for one I could finish and thanks to manehi as well.

  49. Gonzo @44 The Oder is actually a river mostly in Poland, though the end of it is a border of Germany and Poland.  I looked it up because I thought it was in Germany too.

    Thanks Puck and manehi.

     

  50. My bafflement at 26, which I note was shared, is alleviated by Robi @24 and the Chambers definition which I had not consulted. Thanks.

  51. robert@17 I took the definition to be: “A way to go on horses”, therefore an &lit and a rather good clue.

    I am not sure manehi said this. I think he meant “across” = “A way to go on horses”

  52. And an egret seems to be a Great White Heron – Mike Heron being half of the central duo of the much-maligned ISB.

  54. VERY late to the party – red as dark colour perhaps as in dark humour; dark movie etc, red and black being the colours of devilry and dark movies have alot of (red) blood in them…

    Just a thought!

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