Guardian 28,516 / Tramp

98 comments on “Guardian 28,516 / Tramp”

1. Groaned at seeing yet another four-sector puzzle. But after seeing Tramp as the setter, decided to plunge in, and was not disappointed. Searching around for anagrams to obtain a foothold, I chanced on 8D,23D and 17A. These led to a steady fill-in of the SE- and SW-sectors. Continuing in clockwise progression, the NE and NW then provided all the late-puzzle thrills. In fact all the guffaw-aloud clues came from these latter sectors (MARSUPIAL, FORMULA, SNAPDRAGON, STALEMATE (loi), etc, with some lovely distractions from what turned out to be the actual definition. Thanks Tramp for a memorable puzzle.

2. MARSUPIAL was marvellous and an easy highlight today. Always enjoy a Tramp puzzle and made a speedy attack on it after the unexpectedly tough Qaos yesterday.

3. This was a DNF for me, as I couldn’t work out PRISES.
   I also couldn’t parse HEROIN – Eileen’s suggestion seems to be what the setter intended, but is sore = pain as opposed to sore = in pain or sore = painful really sound?
   Some delightful ones in here, notably the amazing Angela Rayner anagram (with a pretty decent surface into the bargain); and at least today we weren’t expected to remember ancient TV programmes or be familiar with the brand names of junk food.
   Thanks Tramp and Eileen.

4. I had 12A parsed as LISTEN for nurse on ER. Which I only just managed to justify with listen and nurse both being synonyms for mind or (at)tend. As in ‘mind my words’ or ‘mind my child’. I think I prefer your parsing Eileen!

   Thanks both.

5. Failure on first letter of 4a. Just didn’t see Tramp’s trick. Of course, my attempt did not parse.

6. Trolls occasionally pop in here and accuse us of being an easily pleased community who consider every puzzle to be delightful. Regular readers know that is not so. Virtually every thread contains some criticism and the occasional offering excites widespread complaint.

   But I am happy to fall over myself in praising Tramp’s latest. Despite some superb challenges over the last week or so, I can’t recall feeling this pleased both during the solve and on completion for some time. Chapeau Tramp.

   From sublime shorts like ARMS and ELMS through to the longer ones – the lovely anagram for HEY PRESTO and the brilliantly defined MARSUPIAL. Some aha, tea tray, lol moments – the definition for PRISES which came right at the end (I had ARISES for some time) and the smashing pair along the bottom – ERRAND and STITCH. The use of ‘boob job’ in the first of those made for a lovely surface. The anagram for SHOWERS was tight and that for PARLIAMENTARY AGENT simply inspired with that clever surface. Even the one genuinely clumsy surface for OXALIS was associated with a clever assemblage of parts to arrive at the whole. I could go on … but this post is long enough. What a darn good effort.

   Thanks Tramp and Eileen

7. Lots of fun – I thought MARSUPIAL was brilliant, also liked HEY PRESTO and golf course.

   Eileen and NeilH @3: re HEROIN, I think it’s a [b]ore that’s the pain, rather than [s]ore.

   Thanks to Tramp and Eileen.

8. Thanks, drofle – that makes much more sense.

9. Kudos to Tramp: cracker of a puzzle. For HEROIN, I too had my doubts about sORE as part of the fodder, and finally decided that bORE fitted better (“He’s a pain” = “He’s a bore” )

10. [drofle @7: crossed, unsurprisingly] But I can’t help wondering whether MARS…..BARS in the 7th line is deliberate, and whether it signifies something subtle going on.

11. On the tough side, needing quite a bit of help but nothing could be better than the lovely anagram on 8,23d!

    Fab puzzle and probably my last-of-the-week as I QSY to the Wickham Festival for 3 days, the weather being a) absolutely lovely today and b) forecast to be horrendous from tomorrow!

    Thanks Tramp and I do hope you found some cracking cheese, Eileen.

12. DNF. Loved the ones I managed to get, but failed on 4a,9a,13a and 6d. My husband supplied 7d and 20d which seemed obvious once he got them! Not so with 4d or 13d, I just did not get the meaning. Ah well, mostly enjoyable. Many thanks to Eileen for parsing. Oh, and Tramp for the challenge!

13. MARSUPIAL is my definition of the year. I had “sore” in 20d but agree that “bore” is better. I originally parsed CONDOLE as C(onservative) ON DOLE but saw better. Hey, it almost works.

14. I went down that path, too, Hovis.

15. blaise @10 – hmmm . . . Mars Bars + Roses (chocolates). There’s a flowers theme: OXALIS, SNAPDRAGON, and apparently some ROSES called Golden SHOWER.

16. What Eileen and PostMark said. Delightful challenge. PROJECT and long anagram were superb.

    Ta both

17. Failed to parse the middle of HEROIN, STALEMATE or LISTENER, but this was a good challenge: particularly liked MARSUPIAL, HEY PRESTO, GOLF COURSE, SUBWOOFER. Can’t believe how long it took me to find the right president for TRIUMPH.

    Not sure about ELMS though it was obvious enough: there are trees called elms, and a kind of wood called elm, but does the “wood” definition have an S plural? Oh well, I suppose it must.

18. Thanks for the blog, I will try not to be MrPostMarks troll but it would be more delightful if we were made to work a little bit harder.

19. Sublime surfaces added immeasurably to the fun here, especially 16, 17 and 26. The anagram fodder for 8, 23 was inspired. Many thanks, Eileen (and blaise@9) for the parsing of GOLF COURSE and HEROIN, neither of which I could see for the life of me, despite the fact they had to be the answers.

20. From Roz the often-heard refrain
    “It’s over much too quick – again!”
    I fear that nought will satisfy
    Can’t you find other fish to fry?

21. I took AGE & DATE as transitive verbs i.e. to determine the age of

    Some lovely layering of meaning here with the aforementioned WOODS and also ALDI being a german supermarket

    drofle @15 are you serious about the roses or taking the … 🙂

22. (For those who would be somewhat prickly,
    Yes, I know it should be ‘quickly’)

23. Thanks Tramp and Eileen

    gladys @ 17: there are multiple species of elm, so I think they can qualify as different woods.

24. Yes, I can imagine a cabinet maker trying to decide which of the various elms to use.

25. Another top-notch puzzle from Tramp.

    I thought: “Wait a minute, prizes is the American spelling of prises”, doh! Great Angela Rayner anagram – she has a son called Jimmy apparently. I liked many, including MARSUPIAL (tops!), GOLF COURSE, SHOWERS, SUBWOOFER and LOI, STALEMATE.

    Thanks Tramp and Eileen.

26. bodycheetah @21 – I’m clutching at straws.

27. I thought I’d finished but DNF as had LiStENED. Sounds like tip nurse – list tend. But could not parse why it was a medical programme. I thought about listener but had forgotten the EN for nurse so parsing was no good either way. Oh well. I enjoyed the process immensely.

    I have a question for the brains trust. In STALEMATE is ‘m’ the bottom of bottom with bottom doing double duty? Is that a recognised construction? Thanks for excellent blog Eileen and a (thankfully) doable Friday puzzle Tramp.

28. Btw. I don’t pronounce listened list-tend but I was hoping!

29. As in the blog, bottom and artist are BOTH taken finally, hence M and T

30. bodycheetah @21 – although I’ve never seen it as a transitive verb in that sense, as opposed to ‘make to seem old’, I actually looked for age = determine the age of but somehow managed to miss it in Chambers – right next to the definition above!

    Robi @25 – I had exactly the same thought about 4ac – that it was the wrong way round – until I looked up ‘jimmy’.

    CanberraGirl @27 – I took the parsing of STALEMATE as bottoM [artisT] finally. I did expect a comment or two.

    [MaidenBartok @11 – we did indeed, thanks, including a super tasting-tray lunch at the Creamery’s restaurant.]

31. What a cracker of a puzzle. Took me a while to break in, but the SW eventually let me get started. Once I’d cracked PARLIAMENTARY AGENT I progressed fairly steadily. Particularly enjoyed the clever MARSUPIAL, and the somewhat fiendish OXALIS.

32. 16: I too parsed Condole as C(on) on dole – but Tory ministers who are sacked don’t need to rely on the dole – there is always a soft job wating for them.

33. Thanks Eileen for the kind words and super blog. Thanks to others for the comments.

    I wish I could say that I meant BORE but I don’t think I did.

    Neil

34. You’re too honest, Neil. 😉

35. Witty, enjoyable and challenging – that’ll do nicely

    Thanks to Tramp and Eileen

36. Got off to a flying start getting the long clue and filling in the SE quickly – then after getting just a few in the top half, I ground to a halt and the rest took a lot longer even with the help of aids. And there were a few I couldn’t parse so thanks to Eileen.

    Of the ones I got favourites were: OXALIS (in a pot on my kitchen window sill and in the garden), HEY PRESTO, FORAGE

    Thanks Tramp

37. I parsed 16 by assuming that a Conservative party member out of government was a CON on the DOLE.

    What makes “S” = succeeding?

38. A mixed bag for me. “Being out of pocket” is a delightful cryptic definition for MARSUPIAL. I don’t like “horrible woman” for DRAGON.

    GregfromOz @37: S for succeeded is used in genealogy.

    As for Russia/Rusher: I understand and accept that RP is the default for homophone/pun clues, but I reserve the right to mutter “Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?” as I enter the answer. I blame the Hanoverians.

39. Liked CONDOLE, STITCH, MARSUPIAL

    Did not parse: ORE bit of 20d; and I took ages to parse the M in STALEMATE

    New: LAMP = hit/beat/punch

    Thanks, both

40. Struggled my way through this, but greatly helped by spotting early on that the 13 letter 8d simply had to be PARLIAMENTARY. And I don’t suppose anyone else on the planet tried out an anagram of Drawing, the last letter L of Easel and the last letter T of Artist and be left staring bemusedly at a 16thC German poet called Ringwaldt for 6d.
    At the very last couldn’t decide whether it was Arises or PRISES for 4ac as I couldn’t parse either. And S for Soprano didn’t quite seem to quite hit the right note, so SHOWERS was the LOI.
    Bit of a rollercoaster, therefore, but did enjoy MARSUPIAL, and HEY PRESTO as many others have commented too…

41. I enjoyed this, especially MARSUPIAL . A question rather than a quibble – can “a central part of” mean any letter other than the first or last? I kept trying to fit “xi” from Mexico into 19 down.

42. PS: not being a chess player, I wasn’t sure whether a STALEMATE was the same as a draw. Looking it up in Chambers, I find that one of the definitions is “An inglorious deadlock.” I wonder what a glorious deadlock would be like.

43. Great fun, with some brilliantly disguised definitions- MARSUPIAL was superb.

    Other faves were ARMS, PROJECT and HEY PRESTO

    Thanks to Eileen/ drofle for parsing HEROIN.

    And many thanks to Tramp for the many smiles

44. Sheer class. Every frame a Rembrandt!
    Thanks Tramp, Eileen. Andrew etc

45. Petert it is MEXICOS , the central part can be anything provide what is left is symmetrical , hence I or XIC or even EXICO .

46. Petert @ 41: it’s the central part of mexIcos

47. Roz@45 Thanks. I ignored the final s.

48. Thoroughly enjoyed this today. Had to intersperse the first 75% and last 25% with tea and Sudoku to reset the neural pathways.

    Could I add to the query about (S)ucceeded please?

49. Never saw console as verb before, but I don’t think anyone’s objected so it must be kosher. And forgot about the oh so chestnutty go/crack…talk about dim! Nice puzzle, ta Tramp and Eileen.

50. … conDole (bleeping autocorrect).

51. A great crossword, which for me started with the long one because the word PARLIAMENTARY seemed to stand out from the anagram fodder. Thereafter I always had something to build on, such was the nature of the grid. I liked MARSUPIAL and SUBWOOFER best, as well as the long anagram already mentioned.
    I didn’t ‘get’ Jimmy in the clue for PRISES, but all is understood now.
    Thanks Tramp and Eileen.

52. Steve @ 48: see comment 38

53. ginf @49, re CONDOLE – likewise thought I’d never clapped eyes on it… but after a little searching (via Spooner’s catflap’s patent formula) here it is in Pride and Prejudice:

    “My dear Sir,
    “I feel myself called upon, by our relationship, and my situation in life, to condole with you on the grievous affliction you are now suffering under…

    (It’s a masterpiece of judgemental pomposity from Mr Collins, written after he learns that Lydia has run off with the scoundrelous Wickham.)

    “The death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison of this…

    “Let me then advise you, dear sir, to console yourself as much as possible, to throw off your unworthy child from your affection for ever, and leave her to reap the fruits of her own heinous offense.
    “I am, dear sir, etc., etc.”

54. The verb furnish has interesting hidden expectations. If Tom furnishes Harry with arms, then Tom ARMS Harry. But if Tom just furnishes Harry, as in 9a, then what exactly has he done? Discuss.

55. [Miche@42: a glorious deadlock looks something like those two guys deciding to share the gold medal for the high jump.]

56. Great puzzle with Angela’s anagram and MARSUPIAL my top clues – and as I’d bunged in TAPS for BARS it was a dnf. Thanks to Tramp, Eileen and eb@53 for the example of CONDOLE in use.

57. I had “arises” for 4A. (Gets out of bed)
    A (American) + RISES (prises without the P “page gets out”)

58. DrW@54: But you can both furnish or arm WITH something, eg: As her wedding approached, she found herself furnished / armed with plenty of advice. Does that work for you?

59. Unlike some others, I got the top half in last night, except for SHOWERS and 8d, 23d, and absolutely NOTHING below the midline. This morning HEROIN helped me with the lower left, but I had to use check a bit for the lower right, and accidentally revealed OXALIS.

    I can’t ever seem to remember EN for Enrolled Nurse — over here it’s RN for Registered Nurse.

    Eileen, thanks for parsing GOLF COURSE.

    Surely ROSE = “sprang up,” while “sprung up” would be “risen.”

    I followed Eileen’s link to Angela Rayner. Who knew there was such a title as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster? What does one do in the job? I’ve learned a bit about Parliament this morning — if I’d heard of private bills, I had no idea what they were. Still have only a vague one.

    Thanks, Tramp, for an enjoyable morning, and Eileen for accompanying me on the walk.

60. I think that in 20 the (s)ore represents “with pain”, not simply “pain”.

61. I acknowledged that oversight earlier. Thanks for only pointing out the inadequacies though.

62. With regard to 2 down, the past tense of “spring” is “sprang” not “sprung” which is the past participle.

63. Rompiballe @ 60 you are spot on , the clue works perfectly with your reading.

    H + with pain=sore not originally over = ero + in

64. Nice puzzle, with 13a MARSUPIAL being the favourite. I acutally filled in the grid reasonably quickly (for me – so nothing to boast about!), but could not retrofit 20d HEROIN to the clue! So many thanks to Eileen/Drofle for the explanation, and of course to Tramp.

65. 19D. Unless one acceptsthat the election was stolen, shouldn’t there be something to indicate that it’s a former president we are looking for?

66. Bill @65 – For some reason, American Presidents are called “Mr President” for life, but maybe that doesn’t make any difference to the accuracy of the clue.

67. Needed to reveal a few of these. I’ve never heard “lamp” as “punch”; “light punch in space” might have worked for me.

    19d: too soon! I do think it’s common and fair to use “President” for formers, as one uses “prince” for HAL even though HAL is no longer a prince (or alive).

    For HEROIN I thought “pain” might be ZERO (as describing a person) but I guess BORE works better.

    I absolutely couldn’t parse GOLF COURSE and got it from 25, thanks for the explanation!

    Thanks Eileen and Tramp!

68. Super puzzle, thanks setter and blogger.

    I ran out of time, so cheated on a couple including the wonderful marsupial. If there’s a prize for best definition of the year, then that will take some beating. Genuinely laughed out loud.

69. I’ve been out since my comment @34, so my thanks to Roz and Simon S for pointing out to Petert @41 that I had included the ‘s in my parsing of 19dn and to Robi for explaining how S = succeeded.

    Valentine @59 and David Mansell @62 – both Collins and Chambers give ‘sprung’ as the past tense, as well as the past participle, of ‘spring’, as do all the grammar websites I have just consulted.

    I don’t think we’ve seen it for a while but EN for Enrolled Nurse used to be quite frequent in clues. It was formerly State Enrolled Nurse.

    Bill @65 – I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Abe for President in crosswords, without any indication that he’s died.

70. Very enjoyable puzzle. Having never heard of “Jemmy” I was wondering what was American about “Jimmy” in 4 ac, and for some reason I just couldn’t parse HEROIN – kept thinking the O was for “over” and puzzling over a three letter word for pain that ends in ER!
    Thanks Tramp and Eileen.

71. Jay in Pittsburgh @70: one of my sons just glanced over my shoulder as I caught up with the blog, and responded to your point puzzling over a three letter word for pain that ends in ER! by indicating his mother and saying “HER” !

72. Valentine @59
    Yes, there really is a Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a senior Cabinet post occupied by Michael Gove. It just remains for me to answer your question on what he does.

73. Valentine @59. The US equivalent of EN is (L) VN: Vocational Nurse

74. I didn’t know that “boob” could be a verb, nor that “lamp” could mean “punch”. I was confused by the “American” indication in 4ac, thinking that it meant that “prise” was an American word or spelling; I’d forgotten the transatlantic “jimmy/jemmy” difference.

75. Valentine @59 – the Duke of Lancaster is the monarch (yes, the Queen is a duke) and the chancellor of the duchy was originally an administrator of that estate. It has become a rather vague minister-without-portfolio post.

76. Eileen@69 Sorry, I not only failed to read the clue properly but also glossed too quickly over the blog.

77. I didn’t have any quibbles with 2D because a little boid told me…
    “Spring is sprung, the grass is riz
    I wonder where the boidies is
    They say the boid is on the wing
    But that’s absoid, the wing is on the boid!”

78. Thank you, Petert @76. 😉

79. AllyGally@58 not really – the meanings are a bit different. The first is “provided”, the second is “provided as protection”. I think they are within the usual margin of error for cryptic synonyms, but just wanted to point out that we’re making some assumptions here.

80. Thanks essexboy @53, classic within a classic

81. In 20dn, I had “with pain” = SORE

82. Hi Springy @81, if you’re still there – I don’t recognise your name but I’d like to welcome you to the site, so please forgive me if you’ve made a comment before and I’ve missed it.

    I’m not sure whether you missed Rompiballe’s comment @60 or whether you simply wanted to endorse it. Either way, you’re very welcome and I hope we hear more from you.

83. After 4 completed grids, absolutely hopeless today, couldn’t get started.
    No excuse.
    Thanks both.

84. Agree with Rompiballe and Springy: “with pain” = sore. Can’t see why anyone had a problem with it.

    Tramp always gives good value, and this was no exception.

85. Thanks for the wet afternoon entertainment Tramp.
    I did much the same as Midge@57 to get 4A. And I was also in the “with pain” camp for 20 D.
    There are some absolutely superb definitions, like those for MARSUPIAL and STALEMATE. That made the solving process a time of amusement as well as head scratching.
    Thank you, as always, for the comprehensive blog Eileen.

86. It’s all been said – top class puzzle.

87. Ronald @40. And I don’t suppose anyone else on the planet tried out an anagram of Drawing, the last letter L of Easel and the last letter T of Artist and be left staring bemusedly at a 16thC German poet called Ringwaldt for 6d. Congratulations on resolving that anagram, but I gave up on it with barely a struggle. So you’re not alone after all, but perhaps you’ll never know, as I am late posting after finally catching up with the crosswords I couldn’t find time for while away on a couple of back to back camping trips.

    Eileen @69. My edition of Chambers gives ‘sprung’ as the past participle only, but I agree that there are references elsewhere to it being acceptable as the past tense. (It still grates on my ears every time!) I like the example given by blaise @77: “Spring is sprung, the grass is riz…”, but these seem to me examples of the use of “is” instead of “has” as the auxiliary verb forming the perfect tense. But hey ho!

    I was rather sad to see Tramp @61 in response to someone (I don’t know who): Thanks for only pointing out the inadequacies though. Which prompts me to say that I think Tramp’s crosswords in recent months have been excellent – really challenging but well worth the effort (on my part at least, no doubt some find them “gentle”). It is good that he still drops in every time his puzzles are blogged, despite the possibility of negative remarks from commenters.

    Thanks Tramp and thanks Eileen for engaging below the line as usual.

88. HoustonTony@73 Never having heard of a Vocational Nurse, I looked it up and found it’s the same as a Licensed Practical Nurse, which I have heard of. It’s apparently subordinate to a Registered Nurse, the same position in both countries, although we don’t call any of ours sisters.

89. Simon S @ 52. Thank you. (I should read all comments more carefully!)

90. Super crossword. Wittily clued throughout & very enjoyable. Very frustrating to fall 2 shy of completion- OXALIS & STALEMATE
    Thanks Tramp & Eileen

91. Just to be clear, I do not mind negative comments. Over the years, I’ve listened to many if them and tried to adjust accordingly. What I do not like are short posts that hone in on something the poster doesn’t like: when I see these, it immediately snacks of deliberately going out of their way to find fault. It’s easy to do that with any work.

    Neil

92. A DNF. With an unparsed FEATURE for 1 dn for a while until MARSUPIAL appeared. Also an unparsed CONSOLE

93. PostMark @71 🙂

94. Tramp@91, the odd thing is that the short post you were referring to was not in fact a criticism -Rompiballe@60 was noting that the clue read properly (“with pain” = sore) was perfectly correct. I think that you might have inadverdently misread his comment. I hope he wasn’t offended.

95. Well I for one think it was a dandy puzzle, and thank you,

96. Marsupial was very good. I now know parliamentary agents are not election agents.
    Thanks Tramp and Eileen

97. Many thanks for the welcome, Eileen. I think I may have posted once before, but I’m afraid I’m mostly just a lurker. I hadn’t noticed the previous almost identical posting, which I should have acknowledged – I’ll try and avoid such a faux pas in future!

98. Late thanks Eileen as I couldn’t get past ARISES at the top right but at least this enabled me to guess STALEMATE with no understanding of the wordplay whatsoever so thanks again! This took a lot of effort but MARSUPIAL is one of my clues of the year and I liked a lot of others too. Thanks Tramp.

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