Guardian 28,924 – Philistine

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I made rather heavy weather of this, probably not helped by having a head full of cold, but it all seems perfectly reasonable in retrospect. Thanks to Philistine.

 
Across
1 JUST SO Perfect stories (4,2)
Double definition – reference to Kipling’s Just So Stories
4 BLIGHTED As a feather in bed is spoilt (8)
LIGHT (as a feather is) in BED
9 ZEBRAS African natives in oversize brassieres (6)
Hidden in oversiZA BRASsieres
10 IDLENESS One suffering endless torpor (8)
I + ENDLESS*
11 PIGS IN BLANKETS Food Napoleon and his entourage kept warm (4,2,8)
PIGS (Napoleon & co in Animal Farm) + IN BLANKETS (kept warm)
13 CLEAN SWEEP Conservative lists shed tears in preparation for a fresh start (5,5)
C + LEANS (lists) + WEEP (shed tears)
14,16 MADE EASY Cheese turnover? Yes, a new recipe for beginners (4,4)
Reverse of EDAM + (YES A)*
18 GOBI DESERT Try tender exotic trees, but they won’t grow here (4,6)
GO (a try) + BID (tender) + TREES*
21 KITCHEN CABINET They advise where to find pots and pans (7,7)
Double definition
23 APIARIAN Song in a code to do with buzzers (8)
ARIA in A PIN (code to use with a bank card etc)
24 MANTRA Repeated words of claimant, rambling (6)
Hidden in claiMANT RAmbling
25 EAGLE EYE Top dog, say I, for close observation (5,3)
[b]EAGLE + homophone of “I”
26 REPAID Gave compensation in return, a requirement for American 12s (6)
Reverse of DIAPER (as a NEWBORN BABY in the US would need) – this reads more naturally as a clue for DIAPER, but it works both ways, and I was lucky to have the A in place when I solved it
Down
1,22 JAZZ BAND Before delta strain Covid ends, snoring interrupts vaccination of players (4,4)
ZZ (snoring) in JAB (vaccination) + last letters of deltA straiN coviD
2 SUBLIME Beneath tree that’s heavenly (7)
SUB LIME
3 SWAN SONG Penchant for the final act (4,4)
A swan song could be a PEN (female swan) CHANT
5 LA DOLCE VITA Riley’s life in Florence? (2,5,4)
The Italian equivalent of “The Life of Riley” (“a luxurious or carefree existence”)
6 GREENS Cut energy usage, said at first by them (6)
Anagram of ENERG[y] + S[aid]
7 THERESA There’s a mother! (7)
Not so much hidden as in plain sight: THERE’S A. As Andy points out in the comments, the correct spelling of the name is TERESA
8 DUST SHEET He’d test us about protective cover (4,5)
(HE’D TEST US)*
12 NEWBORN BABY Recent arrival in November disrupted Brown Abbey (7,4)
N[ovember] + (BROWN ABBEY)*
13 CHECKMATE You’ve lost control, pal (9)
CHECK (control) + MATE (pal)
15 MEDICATE Intervene to protect Charlie’s treat (8)
C[harlie] in MEDIATE – “treat” in the medical sense
17 SETTING What am I doing for the environment? (7)
Double definition
19 ELECTRA Choose to back Mary, at heart a complex woman (7)
ELECT (choose) + reverse of the “heart” of mARy – reference to the psychoanalytical (and probably non-existent) Electra Complex
20 CHARGE Top up fee (6)
Double definition

60 comments on “Guardian 28,924 – Philistine”

  1. A 15 min romp followed by 10 mins staring at 3d for me… Very very cheeky. But where does the madness end? Can “Bin man” clue ALBAN, for instance? Ignore my ramblings, enjoyable puzzle, thanks both.

  3. Definitely on Philistine’s wavelength after yesterday’s toughie. Lots of favourites inc BLIGHTED, IDLENESS, PIGS IN BLANKETS, CLEAN SWEEP, GOBI DESERT, MEDICANT and the delightful THERESA. Very enjoyable solve.

    Ta Philistine & Andrew

  5. Pigs in blankets? That’s something I didn’t know to order when I visited the UK many moons ago.

    This was all very enjoyable, with nothing too taxing. My favourite was probably REPAID.

    Thanks Slormgorm & Andrew.

  7. Thanks Philistine and Andrew
    On the easy side for a Philistine, but a lot of fun. I too failed to split PENCHANT, so was puzzled by SWAN SONG – now a favourite. Another was PIGS IN BLANKETS – GDU they’re cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon, traditionally served with the Christmas turkey.
    Before I got to the computer to “check”, I spent some time wondering how a PIL was a code in 23a!

  8. Yes, pen chant wins GoD. And yes Riley would’ve relished Anita Ekberg (Ma, che bistecca! as Mastroianni said). Gobi Desert is an occasional regular, and kitchen cabinet too feels familiar. All fun, thanks Phil’n’Andrew.

  9. Isn’t A CLEAN SWEEP where you win everything. A clean sheet or slate is a new beginning. GOBI DESERT was my favourite.

  10. What a delight! Nothing too taxing, as GDU says, but lots of ahas and chortles as the pennies dropped.

    I immediately thought ‘Animal Farm’ when I saw Napoleon but that didn’t spoil the fun. (Geoff @5, I don’t think pigs in blankets were a thing ‘many moons ago’ – but you can very easily make your own: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pigs_in_blankets_63316 )

    Other favourites were GOBI DESERT, APIARIAN, JAZZ BAND (neatly placed in the grid), CHECKMATE, SETTING, CHARGE, PENCHANT and the combination NEWBORN BABY /REPAID.

    Many thanks, Philistine, for a sparkling start to the day and Andrew for a great blog – I hope you’ll feel better soon. 😉

  11. we certainly had little sausages with streaky bacon wrapped round them with the christmas chicken when I was a child many years ago – but goodness knows when they started being called pigs in blankets

  12. I thoroughly enjoyed this. My favourites were SWAN SONG (‘Penchant’ indeed!) and SETTING. Thanks a lot to Philistine and Andrew.

  13. This was fun, if not too taxing.
    Petert@9: I see what you mean about CLEAN SWEEP, but there is the saying ‘new brooms sweep clean’ implying a fresh start.
    Thanks Philistine and Andrew.

  14. I always thought pigs in blankets was an American term that crept over here like so much else. No such thing in NZ in my childhood though we also aped much of US lingo.
    A great puzzle and blog, thanks to both.

  15. MrBev @11 and SinCam @14 – yes, I meant that it was the name that was fairly recent but I hadn’t thought of it as being American. You’re probably right, though.

  16. A really good mixture of easy and not so easy, with lots of wit and fine surfaces. It took a while for 11A PIGS IN BLANKETS to click. Personally, I always leave them at the side of the plate. Not the height of English cuisine. Anyway, my kind of puzzle. With thanks to both.

  17. I agree with Nuntius@16 that there was plenty of wit and some fine surfaces here. Much to enjoy, I thought. I didn’t baulk at CLEAN SWEEP but I do think Petert@9 is right about that one; l went with Sourdough@13 in thinking of new brooms and fresh starts. And neither was I bothered by Mother T[h]eresa, though I suppose Andy@2 has a fair point. ‘Perfect stories’ was a peach, along with ‘Pen-chant’ and the oversize bras. Loved it.

  18. Having been behind all week, I’ve caught up by doing Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in one sitting – and surprisingly I found today’s to be the most accessible of the three (marginally!)

    PIGS IN BLANKETS is my favourite. The separation of pen/chant in SWAN SONG passed me by but I had enough crossers to bung it in. I share Petert’s (@9) eyebrow-raise at that definition of CLEAN SWEEP. And found THERESA to be a bit ’meh’ even before I read that the spelling is wrong anyway. But minor points in an enjoyable puzzle.

    Thanks both!

  19. Very enjoyable solve once I got into it.

    I liked PIGS IN BLANKETS for the surface and the use of Napoleon, EAGLE EYE for the cut dog, JAZZ BAND for the timely surface, although some would say that it is definition (made) of wordplay, and CHECKMATE for the succinct surface.

    Thanks Philistine and Andrew.

  20. Petert/Sourdough – interesting re CLEAN SWEEP. Collins online has:
    1. an overwhelming victory
    2. the winning of all prizes or contests in a competition
    3. a thorough and sweeping change
    Wiktionary similar, and for the third definition it quotes a biography of Geoffrey Colby, antepenultimate colonial Governor of Nyasaland: “[In 1951] Colby had an almost clean sweep of his closest official advisors.”

    I think perhaps the definition in the clue includes “preparation for” a fresh start,

    Thanks P & A; I’m another fan of the pen-chant.

  21. It could be that pigs in blankets originated on this side of the Atlantic, but I have never come across them here. It seems to me that there is a certain British tendency to think of anything new and disliked, particularly but not only in language, as an American innovation. Sometimes that’s the case, but often not.

    I guessed that the adjective would be a partially unparsed APIARIAL, so this one is scored as a dnf.

    I had the same action as Peter@9 to CLEAN SWEEP, and had first tried to make CLEAN SLATE fit.

  23. 20d reminded me of a recent school governors’ report which said that the EV points would remain free as they could not find a way of charging staff..

  24. Tried CLEAN SLATE (more usually a fresh start than CLEAN SWEEP) and had REWARD for REPAID until I saw the diaper (ha ha). APIARIAN was new, but it had to be something along those lines. I suspected PIGS IN BLANKETS for quite a while before I remembered the right Napoleon. Favourites EAGLE EYE, SWAN SONG, THERESA – and those zebras in their oversize bras.

  25. Swift, smooth, satisfying solve this morning. Loved SWAN SONG. And ZEBRAS gave a little more joy to reveal than MANTRA did. The last one in, appropriately enough for this setter and his day job, was MEDICATE…

  26. Very entertaining puzzle. I’m another fan of the pen chant, and I’d also give a vote for the succinct IDLENESS.

    I agree with esssexboy @20 – the definition for CLEAN SWEEP is ‘preparation for a fresh start’, which would seem to overrule the objections 🙂

    Thanks to S&B

  28. I enjoyed this and other than the Playtex device for. SWAN SONG parsed it too. I should have looked as Philistine usually has a split clue in his crosswords, but it was ahivering in tbe wee small hours.

    We called the sausages in bacon served with roast chicken by my grandmother or dished up as the protein in a meal PIGS IN BLANKETS, 50 odd years ago, so they’ve been called that a while. According to a quick search the firat recipes appeared in the UK in 1957

    Thank you to Andrew and Philistine.

  30. I found this tougher than usual but a very satisfying solve. The pen chant was a top clue.

    But my favourite was REPAID for the clever reversal.

    Thanks Philistine and Andrew

  33. I think everyone is being very unkind about pigs in blankets. What’s not to like about sausages rolled in bacon and roasted with the chicken? Or another version for canapés, —dates rolled in bacon and baked, they’re quite delicious too.

  35. @11 pigs in blankets according to my long departed Gran is sausages come from pork (pigs) wrapped up to keep warm ready to eat!

  36. Pigs in blankets have featured on our dining table for at least 30 years, a graduation handed down from my wife’s parents.

    But what about angels on horseback, which we have as dates wrapped in bacon. (although wikipedia says the centre should be oysters)

  38. So am I the only person who got to diaper because I read it as “American number ones and number twos”?

  39. That seemed remarkably easy for a Friday. Was that a courtesy to hung over American readers? Or is it another case of me finding it easy when others found it hard, and hard when others found it easy?

  40. I think essexboy has resolved my doubts about A CLEAN SWEEP. Devils on horseback are the prunes in bacon with mustard, angels on horseback involve scallops.

  41. This whole business of (some of us, anyway) finding things easier these days, may be simply the element of familiarity (with our regular setters’ modus operandi), breeding inner contentment rather than that other word C word most associated with this proverb…

  42. 3d SWAN SONG was my number one fave!

    Eileen@10 and MrBev@11 When I googled “pigs in blankets” (having heard of them but not knowing what they were, thinking they might be something like toads in holes) the ones I found were little sausages wrapped not in bacon but in some sort of dough, which then was baked. Now that I reread the google entry I find that the dough ones are American and the bacon ones are in the UK. Who knew? I’ve never seen either. I’ve also learned that “streaky bacon” is what we just call “bacon,” and “rashers” are what we call “Canadian bacon,” which as far as I know is found only on English muffins {I don’t know what they’re called in the UK, maybe just “muffins”?) in eggs Benedict. Muffins to us, without the “English,” are cake-like things baked in muffin tins in various sizes and with various flavors and additives such as blueberries or chocolate chips or poppy seeds or …

    Nuntius@16 What is the height of English cuisine?

    copmus@22 “Figs in a banquet” could describe a delicious, though non-vegan, Italian appetizer of fresh figs wrapped in prosciutto. Ark Lark@36 I think of angels on horseback as scallops wrapped in bacon.

    A very foody conversation! Nice puzzle, thanks Philistine, and thanks to Andrew for the blog.

  43. Valentine@42 is entirely right about the dominant meaning in the US. Wikipedia even does so far as to say PIGS IN A BLANKET is the US term involving dough, PIGS IN BLANKETS is the UK term with bacon. I doubt people make such a fine distinction in the wording, but you tell me.

    [Further to the muffin comment:
    American tourist in London: I’d like some English muffins please.
    Sniffy waiter: But they’re all English, ma’am.]

  44. Muffins in the UK are mostly the overgrown cup cakes with fruit or chocolate chips, but bakery shelves sometimes still sell the round chunky bread discs that were traditionally muffins in this country, and sold by the Muffin man on Drury Lane.

  47. Shanne @44 I’ve never heard cakes described as muffins in my part of England (Hampshire). Cakes are – well – cakes. Muffins are, as you say, a bread. I know in the US I have to call for English muffins unless I want something sweet or full of blueberries, but not down my way. Maybe a regional thing?

  48. I know muffins as little cakes baked in paper cases, with, as Valentine says, fruit or chocolate chips included. The mixture bulges out over the top of the paper case, hence “muffin-top” for a waist that does similarly over a belt!

  50. [At the risk of dyspepsia for everyone, a few further comments on PIGS IN BLANKETS. They seem to have appeared in the UK and Ireland in the 1950s and are probably a variant of ‘angels on horseback’, as other have said – a Victorian creation, possibly French, consisting of oysters wrapped in bacon – oysters were a cheap food in those days. (Bacon-wrapped prunes or dates are ‘devils on horseback’). Wikipedia suggests that their popularity is largely due to St Delia of Norwich, but I think this is mistaken as her Christmas cookbook has no mention of them. My belief is that the name was taken from the American ‘pigs in a blanket’, which as Valentine and Dr WhatsOn concur are dough-wrapped and therefore more like the sausage rolls on this side of the pond 🙂 ]

  53. Thanks for the blog, I liked the “try tender ” for GOBI DESERT ( a wonderful site for dinosaur fossils ) and “cut energy usage ” for GREENS. I suppose CHARGE = top up in the sense of glasses.
    AlanC@3 perhaps you should take your medication before posting.

  54. Thanks Andrew there were a few I didn’t parse. But what is “usage” doing in GREENS?
    And thanks Philistine

  58. Simon @56 thanks , but I thought top-up for them meant put money on them, I remember that well, not connect them to the mains to RE-charge the battery ??

  59. I really enjoyed this! Lots of fun surfaces. I was entertained by the way JAZZ CLUB was constructed, and felt quite satisfied by a lot of the clues. Thought it was going to be a pangram with all the J’s, ax’s et but it was short FQ & X.
    Obviously an animal theme, but with the Just So (stories) and Animal Farm reference I wondered if it had something to do with literary animals?

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