Guardian Cryptic 27,995 by Philistine

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The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27995.

I found this a most enjoyable crossword – witty, inventive, and challenging enough without being too difficult. It has been a while since I last blogged a Philistine, but I would be happy for any more than might fall my way. Thanks, Philistine.

ACROSS
1 PROPHESY Predict yacht can become a form of psychotherapy (8)
PROPHESY plus ‘yacht’ is an anagram (‘can become a form’) of ‘psychotherapy’
5 CASSIS Cordial hospital not in the frame (6)
A subtraction: C[h]ASIS (‘frame’ of a car, for example) minus the H (‘hospital not in’). CASSIS (in full, Crème de Cassis) is an alcoholic blackberrycurrant-flavoured cordial.
9 CATAPULT Weapon religious group deployed round a water source (8)
An envelope (‘deployed round’) of A TAP (‘a water source’) in CULT (‘religious group’).
10 AGENDA Items finish in oven (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of END (‘finish’) in AGA (‘oven’).
12 NOSEY Curious opposites are back-to-back (5)
NO and YES (‘opposites’) ‘back to back’.
13 SARTORIAL As tailor, may be? That’s about right (9)
An envelope (‘that’s about’) of R (‘right’) in SATORIAL, an anagram (‘may be?’) of ‘as tailor’, with an &lit definition.
14 DOOR FASTENER ‘Latch heartless Doctor Faust’, wrote von Goethe, bitter at the end (4,8)
A charade of DOORFAST (‘do[ct]or fa[u]st’ minus their middle letters – ‘heartless’) plus E N E R (‘wrotE voN GoethE bitteR at the end’).
18 SUPERCILIOUS Haughty Louis IV moving forward — chasing fancy cup, sire? (12)
A charade of SUPERCI, an anagram (‘fancy’) of ‘cup sire’, plus LIOUS, which is ‘Louis’ with the fourth letter moved up one (‘IV moving forward’). ‘Chasing’ indicates the order of the particles.
21 TOOTHSOME Tasty offshoot in book (9)
An envelope (‘in’) of OOTHS, an anagram (‘off’-) of -‘shoot’ in TOME (‘book’).
23 HANDY Hungary’s borders accessible (5)
H AND Y are the ‘borders; of ‘HungarY‘.
24 ETHNIC Cultural Revolution’s end, in principle (6)
An envelope (‘in’) of N (‘revolutioN‘s end’) in ETHIC (‘principle’).
25 BE NO MORE Disappear, having heard comic ‘encore’ (2,2,4)
A charade of BE NO, sounding like (‘having heard’) BEANO (British children’s ‘comic’) plus MORE (‘encore’).
26 ESSAYS Tries to be outrageously sassy after early start (6)
A charade of E (‘Early start’) plus SSAYS, an anagram (‘outrageously’) of ‘sassy’.
27 ASSEMBLE Come together with capacity to contain revolutionary chaos (8)
An envelope (‘to contain’) of SSEM, a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of MESS (‘chaos’) in ABLE (‘with capacity’).
DOWN
1 PECANS Champion among nationalists turned nuts (6)
A reversal (‘turned’) of SNACEP, an envelope (‘among’) of ACE (‘champion’) in SNP (Scottish National Party, ‘nationalists’).
2 OBTUSE Dense fog — Central tube station first to get disrupted (6)
A charade of O (‘fOg central’) plus BTUSE, an anagram (‘to bet disrupted’) of ‘tube’ plus S (‘Station first’).
3 HAPPY HOUR Delighted with the Guardian’s stated time for an economy round (5,4)
A charade of HAPPY (‘delighted’) plus HOUR, sounding like OUR (‘the Guardian’s stated’).
4 SOLE SURVIVOR Only one to escape being stamped on? (4,8)
A punning reference to SOLE as the bottom of a boot.
6 AGGRO Stalag ground is filled with hostility (5)
A hidden (‘is filled with’) answer in ‘stalAG GROund’.
7 SENTIENT Aware of extremely subversive and evil intent (8)
A charade of SE (‘extremely SubversivE‘) plus NTIENT, an anagram (‘evil’) of ‘intent’.
8 SMALL FRY Trivial as whitebait? (5,3)
Definition and literal interpretation.
11 CREATIVENESS Indigenous person, putting head down among tribe, starts to show superb ingenuity (12)
An envelope (‘among’) of ATIVEN, formed from NATIVE (‘indigenous person’) with the N moved to the end (‘putting head down’) in CREE (First Nation ‘tribe’ in Canada and USA) plus S S (‘starts to Show Superb’).
15 TOUGH LOVE Firmness and kindness to start hand in glove after outbreak (5,4)
A charade of TOU, an anagram (-‘break’) of ‘out’- plus GHLOVE, an envelope (‘in’) of H (‘to start Hand’) in ‘glove’.
16 AS IT WERE We are its reincarnation, so to speak (2,2,4)
An anagram (‘reincarnation’) of ‘we are its’.
17 SPLOSHES Stop, but not to see the woman’s frolics in water (8)
A charade of SP (‘StoP but not to’) plus LO (‘see’) plus SHE’S (‘the woman’s)
19 ENTOMB Internet mob broken up (6)
A lift and separate: an anagram (‘broken up’) of -‘net mob’.
20 XYLENE Solvent sexy male, fine bottom half (6)
‘Bottom half’ of the words ‘seXY maLE fiNE‘.
22 HAIRY Treacherous, unlike Jacob (5)
… but like his twin brother Esau, in Genesis.

 

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51 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,995 by Philistine”

  1. This started off slowly for me, with only three or four in on the first pass, but everything yielded with a little effort (okay, a lot of effort in a few cases). It was unusual to have three ‘lift and separate’ clues, with offshoot, outbreak, and the wildly improbable internet. Favourites were PROPHESY and XYLENE. Thanks to Philistine and to PeterO for the parsing of PECANS.

  2. Found this quite chewy, with a few in the NE, then the SW, then a steady but far from quick fill. Being a bit allergic to long juggly Lego clues like 11d, I always wait for crossers, then back-parse (native with head down among Cree plus two Ss indeed, erk!). Wasn’t up to Philistine’s wit either, failing to get the joke in sole survivor, groan, or to get the additive anagram in 1ac, dim! Enjoyable nonetheless, thanks both.

  3. … if sartorial means ‘of or relating to a tailor or to tailoring’ then it’s more than ‘about right’, so is 13ac a partial &lit, not a full one?

  4. My favourites were HANDY, NOSEY, SPLOSHES, ENTOMB.

    I could not parse the BE NO bit of 25a (never heard of the comic) or 4d which I still do not fully understand.

    Thanks Peter and Philistine.

  5. I think the word that best describes this is idiosyncratic. Both 14a DOOR FASTENER and 20d XYLENE employed nominal operators in the singular (the end, bottom half) but they acted on multiple words. 1a PROPHESY needed the definition to make the wordplay work. 4d, while not an &lit., could be solved by either the first part as underlined by PeterO, or the whole clue. None of this was a barrier in any way, just struck me as a bit quirky. Quite fun, though, and not as hard as I first thought on seeing the longer clues. Thanks.

  6. For XYLENE when the clue is horizontally written i looks more like TOP HALF of the words.

    So for me that doesnt quite work.Maybe I’m too picky today.

     

  7. I really gained a lot of enjoyment from this puzzle so thank you to Philistine, who is one of my favourite setters these days. Grateful also to PeterO for the early, thorough and positive blog. My ticks were for 9a CATAPULT, 10a AGENDA, 14a DOOR FASTENER, 25a BE NO MORE, 8d SMALL FRY, 11d CREATIVENESS and 22d HAIRY. I also liked unravelling 1a PROPHESY and 19d ENTOMB, as already mentioned by DaveinNCarolina@1 and michelle@4 respectively. I was excited that I knew the SNP (which was useful for 1d PECANS) and that I had heard of the comic BEANO (which helped with 25a BE NO MORE), both learned from Guardian cryptics!

  8. Hard going, but rewarding to finish, with CREATIVENESS and appropriately OBTUSE holding me up longest. ENTOMB was a very good ‘lift and separate’ clue which also had me stumped until the PDM. Looking forward to a champers and CASSIS in a few weeks.

    Thanks to Philistine and PeterO

  9. Loved this. Challenging without resorting to obscurities, and isn’t that how it should be? Thanks P and P.

  11. Thanks Philistine and PeterO

    I found this easy for a Philistine, though I didn’t parse PROPHESY, SPLOSHES, or DOOR FASTENER.

    Although I had no problem with it, I think the clue for HAIRY is unfair, as it relies totally on GK.

    Favourite was SOLE SURVIVOR.

  12. I found that tough – especially at first when I was wondering if I’d get much  more than 2 or 3 solutions on the first pass. However, as with the very best of puzzles, it unravelled bit by bit. I agree it was quirky, creative even, with many novel or cunning devices. I had quite a few in the “solve first, parse later” category, but parsing was a pleasure when it finally happened. For several I could see part of the word play (anagram of “cup sire”, “ativen”) and then either build the rest or jump to the answer. I think many of the clues allowed for multiple routes of entry, which is ideal. Many thanks Philistine, and PeterO for the comprehensive blog. Too many favourites to list – the whole thing was fun.

    Re GK (muffin @11) I agree somewhat – I thought  yesterday’s “empire builders” similar, requiring detailed biblical knowledge. It strikes me as similar to “Thick-sounding physicist (6)” or “Scientist tedious in lectures (4)” where, without knowing the names, you’d really struggle with answers even if you guessed the homophones are of plank and bore respectively.

  13. Found this one quite easy,as I have completed it before noon Kenyan time. Enjoyable, nonetheless. COD ENTOMB.

  14. Philly in good form today with plenty of different constructions. Favourites were TOOTHSOME (which is a great word anyway) and TOUGH LOVE.

    Re CASSIS we were doing the RL Stevenson long distance walk and were introduced to creme de chataigne which makes a lovely alternative to Kir. Served in big jugs in the chambres d’hote.

    Thanks to both.

  15. For me, exactly as Peter O says in first sentence and Oofy @9.

    Only one I couldn’t parse fully was SPLOSHES. What a great word!

  16. I enjoyed this and completed it steadily. Lots to like. Fav clue was ENTOMB.
    Re the GK comments: it is so individual what one regards as appropriate GK- there was the discussion re quanta and now the comments re esau (“but my brother is an hairy man”) and Romans. I personally had no problems with any of these but struggle with the sports stuff esp re names of players. (I have learnt re cricket fielding positions from crosswords). One person’s meat… so to speak.
    Thanks to Philistine for the fun and PeterO for the blog.

  17. The last Philistine prize seemed to be commemorating the landmark, but this is the 100th Philistine Guardian in the cryptic and prize slots. There was also the one he finished for Araucaria which may account for the confusion.
    I found this quite tricky – thanks for parsing PROPHESY which was last in.

    Thanks to Philistine and PeterO

  18. Wrote several answers in without fully understanding the parsing. Couldn’t decide between SOLE and LONE SURVIVOR for ages till the lightbulb moment with the part of the shoe. LOI therefore was PROPHESY, after rooting around for a word that fitted some kind of psychotherapy. Realise now that 1 across is really rather brilliant!

  20. I’m being thick no doubt but I still don’t get how ‘sole survivor’ is ‘being stamped on’. I get the sole part but what’s survivor doing there?
    I had fun but would never have parsed 11d. Loved 19d which was my loi.

  21. Thanks for the blog and the parsing of PROPHESY – I had observed that removing YACHT from PSYCHOTHERAPY gave the answer, assumed that ‘CAN’ was a removal indicator – but a much more straightforward parsing as given. LOI was CASSIS – resorted to word search for that, doh.

  22. Entertaining solve, but I hesitated with CREATIVENESS, wondering if it was a real word – is it the same as creativity? Hairy Esau – who would have thought?

    My favourite clue was for ENTOMB – brilliant!

    Thanks Philistine and PeterO.

  23. This was notable for me, because I did not have to use any word fillers, anagram solvers, thesaurus etc. Although I did have to confirm my biblical knowledge of Jacob and the meaning of “Cassis”. So I conclude that this Philistine was very fair.

    Thanks to PeterO  – I appear to have got all the right answers, but missed a step in the parsing here and there, such as missing the role of IV in “Louis IV”

  24. Thanks to Philistine and PeterO.

    Happy Goldilocks here.  Favs TOUGH LOVE and SPLOSHES among many.

    Xjpotter@20: If you were stamped on (by someone’s sole) and survived you would be a “sole survivor”?

  27. Thanks both,
    A joy to solve. The deceptively simple 25ac was LOI. 19d was favourite among many fine clues.

  28. Judygs thanks so much for the link. I’ve not heard that in decades. The tin of sardines!

    And thanks to Philistine for an enjoyable crossword and PeterO for explaining SPLOSHES which I failed to parse.

  31. Who’d have thought that childhood attendance at Sunday school would have produced anything of use -well,atheism perhaps-but it was there I learned that Esau was an HAIRY man!
    Enjoyed this very much. Didn’t parse PECANS though!
    Thanks Philistine.

  32. GK in clues, again

    I think it is unfortunate if GK is the only way to get to the solution. This was nearly the case for HAIRY, as it isn’t a close synonym of “treacherous”.

  33. if I knew how to post a link, I’d direct everyone to Alan Bennett’s parodic vicar and his given text: Esau was an hairy man, but I am a smooth man.

  36. I’ve been on a long train journey all day and started out thinking I’d get this done quickly – as CASSIS, HAIRY, NOSEY, HANDY, AGENDA and ESSAYS went in straightaway. Then things became more chewy – which means I’ve only just finished it with another 20 mins of travel. It’s always pleasing to see references to Beano, and i grinned at SOLE SURVIVOR. Thanks to Philistine for making a dull journey fun – and to Peter O for the lucid explanations, especially the parsing of TOOTHSOME, which was beyond me.

  37. A delightful puzzle. Do I detect a comic sketch mini-theme going on, with Alan Bennett’s HAIRY man (thanks judygs!), a dead parrot reference in BE NO MORE, FRY in 8d, and even ‘a taste of AGGRO’ (this from the Barron Knights)?

  39. What a lovely puzzle! It was relatively easy yet so satisfying. Not being British I had a bit of a problem parsing 1 dn and 25 ac, but that said everything was just perfectly clued.

    Thanks Peter and Philistine.

  41. jeceris @40

    Yes, indeed.

    judygs @25

    Thanks for the link. It was my first thought, rather than Genesis, when I read the clue.

    I agree with the majority opinion that 19D ENTOMB deserves top honours.

  43. I really enjoyed this puzzle too. A nice mix of clues with wit and nothing too obscure. A Goldilocks puzzle IMHO. My COD was HANDY which was beautifully concise.

    Thanks to Philistine and to PeterO for the blog.

  44. Judygs@25. An earlier text for the sermon was, “And the two she bears came out of the wood and devoured the forty-seven children of the Ishmaelites”. Try to imagine Alan Bennett saying it. At least that’s my recollection and it sounds better than what 2Kings 2.25 actually says. I confess I looked it up.

  46. My first Philistine, and rather enjoyable. I thought the part-word definition for ENTOMB was a bit cheeky, but clever.  I liked PROPHESY too. But I beg to differ from others about SOLE SURVIVOR which I think doesn’t work… The definition is “only one to escape” and the wordplay is… “being stamped on”? It just doesn’t make sense. Even if “escape” does double duty, “escape being stamped on ” doesn’t make sense either. Too loose for me. Or am I being overly picky? Thanks Philistine and PeterO.

  49. johninterred @46

    My description of the clue perhaps leaves something to be desired: it is not a standard form which divides neatly into definition and wordplay; rather, ‘being stamped on’ acts as a punning amplification to the definition. Some may lump such a clue in with the cryptic definitions.

    S @47

    I’m not sure how I perpetrated that one – I must have been nodding. I cannot even put the blame on predictive typing, as I do not use it.

  51. Surely knowing that Esau was hairy is just knowledge in the same way that knowing what supercilious means is just knowledge?

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