Guardian Cryptic 27,981 by Pan

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27981.

Pan asks from us rather more in parsing, vocabulary and general knowledge than we are used to of a Monday, but the result is none the worse for that.

ACROSS
8 PERMEATE Infiltrate team prepared to stop father in France (8)
An envelope (‘to stop’) of MEAT, an anagram (‘prepared’) of ‘team’ in PÈRE (‘father in France’).
9 APACHE Helicopter swiftly circling hospital (6)
An envelope (‘circling’) of H (‘hospital’) in APACE (‘swiftly’).
10 BAYS Trees with bark close to leaves (4)
A charade of BAY (‘bark’) plus S (‘close to leaveS‘).I have just inherited a bay tree which will need pruning before it reaches the ceiling, so that even if I manage to kill it immediately, I shall have a lifetime supply of leaves for stews.
11 SACERDOTAL Priestly pouch given to queen told off outside entrance to abbey (10)
A charade of SAC (‘pouch’) plus ER (‘Queen’) plus DOTAL, an envelope (outside’) of A (‘entrance to Abbey’) in DOTL, an anagram (‘off’) of ‘told’.
12 BEACON Husband leaving shore working in lighthouse (6)
A charade of BEAC[h] (‘shore’) minus the H (‘husband leaving’) plus ON (‘working’).
14 MUSQUASH Rodent in museum put down (8)
A charade of MUS (‘museum’) plus QUASH (‘put down’).
15 DEBUSSY Composer‘s bottom rejected by topless minx (7)
A charade of DEB, a reversal (‘rejected’) of BED (‘bottom’) plus [h]USSY (‘minx’) minus the first letter (‘topless’).
17, 3 CHARLES MANSON Ferryman carrying son nursed by old lovers to reach cult leader (7,6)
A double envelope (‘carrying’ and ‘nursed by’) of S (‘son’) in LEMANS (‘old lovers’) in CHARON (‘ferryman’ of the dead into Hades).
20 JUNKYARD Boat on cart returned to recycling facility? (8)
A charade of JUNK (‘boat’) plus YARD, a reversal (‘returned’) of DRAY (‘cart’).
22 PESETA Money once made from fake tapes about Spain (6)
An envelope (‘about’) of E (‘Spain’, IVR) in PESTA, an anagram (‘fake’) of ‘tapes’.
23 COME ACROSS Find cameo carved on crucifix (4,6)
A charade of COMEA, an anagram (‘carved’) of ‘cameo’ plus CROSS (‘crucifix’).
24 PACT Streep finally gets to play Bond! (4)
A charade of P (‘StreeP finally’) plus ACT (‘play’), I wouldn’t put it past her.
25 FIERCE Wild fire damaged church (6)
A charade of FIER, an anagram (‘damaged’) of ‘fire’ plus CE (‘church’).
26 REORIENT Iron tree uprooted and set in a different position (8)
An anagram (‘uprooted’) of ‘iron tree’.
DOWN
1 LEGALESE Lawyers talk of high winds in shelter (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of GALES (‘high winds’) in LEE (‘shelter’). Pan here is not following truth in punctuation; the definition needs an apostrophe.
2 AMPS Where soldiers my be caught leaving special units (4)
[c]AMP (‘where soldiers may be’, correcting the typo) minus C (‘caught leaving’) plus S (‘special’).
3 See 17
4 WELCOME Large committee admitted to small reception (7)
An envelope (‘admitted to’) of L (‘large’) plus COM (‘committee’) in WEE (‘small’).
5 MADRASAH PM once almost overlooked parliamentary record, ignoring new religious school (8)
A charade of MA[y] (‘PM once’) minus the last letter (‘almost’) plus DRASAH, a reversal (‘overlooked’) of HA[n]SARD (‘parliamentary record’) minus the N (‘ignoring new’).
6 MANOEUVRES Guides graduate at new university in over complex points (10)
A charade of MA (‘graduate’) plus N (‘new’) plus OEUVRES, an envelope of U (‘university’) in OEVR, an anagram (‘complex’) of ‘over’ plus E S (‘points’ of the compass).
7 CHEATS Tricks won in clubs and hearts, without a king (6)
A charade of C (‘clubs’) plus ‘hea[r]ts’ mi;nus the R (‘without a king’).
13 CHUCK BERRY Rock star has cut of beef served with fruit (5,5)
A charade of CHUCK (‘cut of beef’) plus BERRY (‘fruit’).
16 SWATCHES Women into bags wanting large fabric samples (8)
An envelope (‘into’) of W (‘women’) in SATCHE[l]S (‘bags’) minus the L (‘wanting large’).
18 ENTICING Attractive husband leaving awfully nice thing (8)
An anagram (‘awfully’) of ‘nice t[h]ing’ minus the H (‘husband leaving’). A little unfortunate to have the same ‘husband leaving’ here and in 12A.
19 ADJOURN Put off by fuss about Japan’s capital vessel (7)
A charade of ADJO, an envelope (‘about’) of J (‘Japan’s capital’) in ADO (‘fuss’); plus URN (‘vessel’).
21 UTOPIA Universal lines taken from Shaping Trees written by Thomas More (6)
A charade of U (‘universal’) plus TOPIA[ry] (‘shaping trees’) minus RY (‘lines taken from’).
22 PASTOR Shepherd almost over hill (6)
A charade of PAS[t] (‘over’) minus its last letter (‘almost’) plus TOR (‘hill’). One hand takes away and the other puts it back.
24 PRIM Fastidious setter’s following promising leads (4)
A charade of PR (‘PRomising leads’) plus I’M (‘setter’s’).

 

image of grid

26 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,981 by Pan”

  1. Why don’t we just abandon the notion that these puzzles start on the easy side and get progressively harder during the week? Recently, there seem to be more violations of this “rule” than conformity. It’s not as if our solving skills regress on a Sunday and need to gently regenerate!

    I thought this puzzle was tough but generally fair.

    For 13d, I think it is correct to say that Chuck Berry was a rock ‘n roll star – rock music evolved from it but came later. The BBC too frequently confused the two, at least in the early years.

  2. A very enjoyable puzzle to solve. Many favourites – PACT, LEGALESE, MADRASAH, UTOPIA, COME ACROSS, MANOUEVRES, DEBUSSY (loi).
    New for me was MUSQUASH.
    Thank you Pan and Peter.

  3. It’s lemans plural around s in 17,4, but yes nice to chew a bit on a Monday, with several in the NW needing all crossers to surface from the muddy neural depths: the helicopter, the rodent and sacerdotal. Enjoyed, ta P and P.

  5. I always fail to see why Monday puzzles should be a walk in the park when there is a Quiptic. dont expect Enigmatist or Vlad but   when

    Pan,Brendan or Orlando ,say step in it is a nice surprise.

  6. We managed this over breakfast, which doesn’t often happen . We had to look up leman to be sure of its meaning. Madrasah was the last in. Good start to the week.

  8. Thanks Pan and PeterO

    I found this really hard – harder than Saturday’s Prize, in fact. I didn’t see where the MA came from in 6d, having forgotten her already! (I thought it might be A.M. reversed, with “P.M. once” indicating it somehow).

  9. I tend to think of PRIM as prudish rather than fastidious. I agree with copmus @5 that the Quiptic should be the gentle start to the week.

    I BIFD CHARLES MANSON, not knowing leman. Very enjoyable with some nice surfaces. I particularly liked DEBUSSY, LEGALESE and WELCOME.

    Thanks Pan and PeterO.

  10. What Peter O says really.

    Its not just that we have become accustomed to a cruise on Mondays but also that we don’t expect this complexity from Pan

    Thanks nevertheless

  11. I think madrasa is the arabic word for any school, funny how it has a specific religious connotation in english.

    Enjoyed the puzzle, especially Shaping Trees.

    Thanks Pan and PeterO

  13. Most of this went in quite readily, but the north west seemed to take forever, with some unfamiliar words. Last ones were sacerdotal, manoeuvres and finally madrasah. Favourites have already been mentioned, but Chuck Berry raided a smile, because I once saw him live in the early nineties in Baltimore. I think he was in late sixties then, but you would not know it from the performance. Thanks to Pan for the challenge and memory and PeterO for the blog.

  15. Hard work with the NE corner holding out longest. Satisfying to have worked out the tricky parsing for MANOEUVRES and CHARLES MANSON. I liked DEBUSSY, the surface for ENTICING and the idea of La Streep playing James Bond.

    Thanks to Pan and PeterO

  17. Thank you PeterO. I suspect I’m alone in having put ‘Pair’ initially as the answer to 24 across, thinking ‘air’ could be a synonym for play, as in broadcast, and a pair possibly being a bond. MUSQUASH a sticking point for me too, otherwise fun! Thanks Pan.

  18. Tlhe “won” and “a” in 7dn stopped me putting in CHEAT for while.
    “Tricks in clubs and hearts with no king” works just as well.

  19. I’m with muffin in finding this harder than the prize, and with Robi in putting in CHARLES MANSON without parsing. Never heard of SACERDOTAL so that’s a tilt. Lots to like so thanks to Pan and PeterO.

  20. It’s ok.  I know there shouldn’t be a progressive element to a Monday crosse compared with a Friday or a prize offering, but just thought this one was a little off beam.  Just me I suspect.  But thanks anyway.

  21. Very nice test we thought, every clue fair (though very impressed by the issue raised over the missing apostrophe in 1d referenced here – we are the merest neophytes in the serious stickler stakes, it seems). The rarely used words a bonus, SACERDOTAL and MANOEUVRE- not easily seen from the crossers. And we agree there is no reason Monday crosswords should be easier than average, particularly as we mostly do them otherwise than on the day published. Many thanks to both setter and blogger.

  23. Muffin@8 I don’t time myself but I would think that this took about the same time as the (easier than usual) Prize, except for 3d in the latter which I still haven’t solved. I have a pleasantly witty Pauline solution with which the only problem is that it isn’t a word.

  24. As a relative beginner I agree with muffin – I have only 3 left on the prize but gave up on this half done. It would be a shame if Monday’s aren’t the easy one…it would be the guardian admitting that the cryptics in the paper are just for the experienced solver (are we really otherwise expected to put the computer on and print off the quiptic before heading off to work?).

    Anyway, enjoyed some of it, a lot more GK than I expected which floored me in some segments.

  25. I thought “special” in 2d was superfluous, since soldiers can just as well be in camps as in (a) camp. And is MUS a recognized abbreviation for MUSEUM?

  26. For a beginner, this was a new level of complexity and, like Stuart, I got halfway. I agree with Robi about frivolous. Favoutite – shaping trees.

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