Guardian 28,967 / Picaroon

by

I thought this was a witty and very enjoyable puzzle from Picaroon. Many thanks to the setter!

Across

1. After palaver, bets a rogue is to avoid dismissal (5,4,3)
CARRY ONE’S BAT
CARRY ON = “palaver” + (BETS A)*
Definition: “to avoid dismissal” – a term in cricket

9. Reversing roles, one may keep a watch on you (5)
STRAP
PARTS = “roles” reversed – I got into trouble early on with this clue, because I put in TIMER as a reversal of REMIT = “roles”, which I thought worked well enough. The correct parsing works better, of course.
Definition: “one may keep a watch on you” – I really like this definition!

10. Ex-PM has kedgeree on vacation, with foreign wine and fish (5,4)
KEVIN RUDD
K[edgere]E = “kedgeree on vacation” + VIN = “foreign wine” + RUDD = “fish”
Definition: “Ex-PM”

11. What socialite does, having Sprite with the rich (7)
HOBNOBS
HOB = “Sprite” (as in a fairy) + NOBS = “the rich” (as in “the nobility”)
Definition: “What socialite does”

12. Bit of rhetoric from student, one wholly using modern language? (7)
LITOTES
L = “student” + I = “one” + TOTES = “wholly using modern language” – this made me laugh, e.g. “totes emosh” meaning “totally emotional”. See also “platty jubes” (Platinum Jubilee), “cozzy livs” (cost of living crisis), etc.
Definition: “Bit of rhetoric” – one I can still remember from school, strangely

13. Off home, a clergyman with a stutter? (10)
INACCURATE
IN = “home” + A + C-CURATE = “clergyman with a stutter?”
Definition: “Off”

15. Problem when walking in either side of canyon (4)
CORN
C OR N would be either side of CanyoN
Definition: “problem when walking”

18. Going over section of awesome Times article (4)
ITEM
Hidden reversed in “awsoME TImes”
Definition: “article”

19. Refuse to go here? Trick cyclist does number on bike half-cut (7,3)
WHEELIE BIN
WHEELIE = “Trick cyclist does” + N = number after BI[ke] = “bike half-cut”
Definition: “Refuse to go here?”

22. Czech maestro in team’s playing around Albion’s wingers (7)
SMETANA
(TEAM’S)* around A[lbio]N = “Albion’s wingers”
Definition: “Czech maestro”

24. Land owned bordering Germany’s capital (7)
BAGHDAD
BAG = “Land” (e.g. “to land/bag a new client”) followed by HAD = “owned” around G D = “Germany”
Definition: “capital”

25. Charles’s bride-to-be exchanging cents for small vending machine (9)
DISPENSER
DI SPENCER was “Charles’s bride-to-be”, with S = “small” instead of C = “cents”
Definition: “vending machine”

26. Picaroon’s admitting a rubbish bard wrote these (5)
IAMBS
I’M = “Picaroon’s” around A followed by BS = “rubbish”
Definition: “bard wrote these” – Shakespeare mostly wrote in iambic pentameter

27. Guy manipulated into sheltering criminal in hiding (12)
FLAGELLATION
FELLA = “Guy” + (INTO)* around LAG = “criminal”
Definition: “hiding” (as in “to give someone a hiding”)

Down

1. Think party needs Republican to oust Liberal (9)
CEREBRATE
CELEBRATE = “party” with R = “Republican” instead of L = “Liberal”
Definition: “Think”

2. Get hold of guards for a ticking off (8)
REPROACH
REACH = “Get hold of” around PRO = “for”
Definition: “a ticking of”

3. I agree to eat one thousand crumbs (5)
YIKES
YES = “I agree” around I = “one” + K = “thousand”
Definition: “crumbs”

4. After half a month, character hasn’t finished light work (9)
NOVELETTE
NOVE[mber] = “half a month” + LETTE[r] = “character hasn’t finished”
Definition: “light work”

5. Reason for one to collar lousy youngster? (6)
SANITY
SAY = “for one” around NIT = “lousy youngster?” (to be read with “lousy” as in “louse”)
Definition: “Reason”

6. Mostly boring attending houses with lots of sex and violence? (5)
ADULT
DUL[l] = “Mostly boring” that AT = “attending” “houses” (i.e. “houses” indicates the inclusion)
Definition: “with lots of sex and violence?”

7. Strips this off outside in monokini (6)
ISTHMI
(THIS)* followed by M[onokin]I = “outside in monokini”
Definition: “Strips”

8. Maybe like a favourite child, not even taking precedence (4-2)
ODDS-ON
SON = “child” with ODD = “not even” first (“taking precedence”) – nice construction
Definition: “Maybe like a favourite”

14. Tries to enter European club for performance (9)
REHEARSAL
HEARS = “Tries” in REAL = “European club” (Real Madrid)br>
Definition: “performance” – I think of rehearsals being distinct from the performance, but Chambers supports this with one of its definitions being “A performance for trial or practice”

16. Official beginning to make little bloomers in Arab land (9)
OMBUDSMAN
M[ake] = “beginning to make” + BUDS = “little bloomers” in OMAN = “Arab land”
Definition: “Official”

17. Polyglot losing stone eating cool Anglo-Italian food (8)
LINGUINI
LINGUI[st] = “Polyglot losing stone” around IN = “cool”
Definition: “Anglo-Italian food” – I think the “anglo” bit is because Linguini is an anglicization of Linguine

18. Iranian heartlessly left, say, imprisoned (6)
INSIDE
IN = “Iranian heartlessly” + SIDE = “left, say”
Definition: “imprisoned”

20. Day minus pants outside, practising this? (6)
NUDISM
D = “Day” in (MINUS)* – “pants” is the anagram indicator
Definition: “practicising this?” in the context of the clue

21. Scoundrel ordered goods (3,3)
BAD EGG
BADE = “ordered” + GG = “goods” (2x G = “good”)
Definition: “Scoundrell

23. Constable used this when blocking slippery customer (5)
EASEL
AS = “when” in EEL = “slippery customer”
Definition: “Constable used this”

24. State formerly of America, with problem to the north (5)
BURMA
AM = “America” + RUB = “problem” (as in “that’s the rub”) reversed (“to the north”)
Definition: “State formerly”

58 comments on “Guardian 28,967 / Picaroon”

  1. Another e excellent puzzle from Picaroon and reasonably straightforward, although CARRY ONES BAT took far longer that it should have done Thanks to both !!

  3. Thanks mhl. I enjoyed it too, was just a bit frustrated that it was the easier ones, including 4, 13 and 22, that gave me the most trouble. Never did come to terms with 12a so thanks for bringing me up to date with contemporary usage. After certain lights had dawned I was left in admiration of clever misdirections.

  5. I spent a considerable time going through the Wikipedia page of British prime ministers, only to discover it was one of ours! He’s soon to be our ambassador in the US, and there’s much speculation in some circles as to whether he’ll be appropriately circumspect.

  6. Thanks Picaroon for many fine clues including CORN, FLAGELLATION, REPROACH, SANITY, REHEARSAL, and EASEL. I needed help for LITOTES and I had “tab” in 1a instead of BAT; my ignorance of cricket will always keep me on the cryptic B-team but I’m OK with that as there was plenty to enjoy here. Thanks mhl for the blog.

  9. Yes, GDU @5, I was also thinking Pommy PM before the penny dropped (the K and V crossers did it for me). Nice to have some GK that’s more accessible to us Down Under than to the Poms for a change. Lots to like in this, I seem to remember. Funnily, JohnB @1, CARRY ONES BAT went straight in for me. And I had seen LITOTES recently enough to remember it (clever use of ‘totes!’) Lots else to like as noted above. Thanks, Picaroon and mhl.

  10. Thanks mhl for the blog.
    I remember laughing out loud last week, and same again on re-reading the clues.
    Like Biggles A@3. I admired the misdirections. I always get a sense of fair play and fun with Picaroon. He dangles the lure in front of you, tempting you to bite, but lets you savour it and doesn’t leave you high and dry.
    No quibbles or questions, too many good clues to mention. For the chuckles liked IAMBS, NUDISM, LITOTES, EASEL, BAD EGG, ISTHMI, WHEELIE BIN, and FLAGELLATION for the double-take.

  11. Yet another cricket term I hadn’t heard of.

    Enjoyed this but failed to get the last two in the NW and needed help parsing a couple.

    Favourites included YIKES, LITOTES, WHEELIE BIN, OMBUDSMAN, EASEL

    Thanks Picaroon and mhl

  12. I couldn’t get 24 across and this would have helped get 24 and 20 down. Should the parsing be “D” for Deutsch = German instead of G for German?

  13. HOBNOBS – Now they’re a dippin’ biscuit according to Peter Kay.
    This was most enjoyable. STRAP for the misleading definition, KEVIN RUDD for a surprising change, DISPENSER for the substitution and YIKES.

  14. I was held up briefly by lazily putting in LINGUINE for 17D, so 27A took longer than it should with a laugh when I realised what the definition was. Pleased with myself when I remembered LITOTES, with similar enjoyment on the ‘modern language’. I concur with everyone else. An entertaining crossword. Thanks to Picaroon and mhl.

  16. Thanks for the blog,I have no clues circled or crossed which is quite rare so not much to say.
    14D reminded me of – Real Madrid 0 Surreal Madrid a fish.
    My money is on Smetana to be the theme composer for the next Murakami novel.

  17. (#5 Geoff my Platonic form of an ambassador from Down Under would be far from circumspect)

    Lovely puzzle, lovely blog. Can’t add to it except perhaps Smetana’s music perhaps deserves to be better known.

  18. I thought I’d finished this but on reading the blog realised I’d missed ISTHMI, but I was never going to get that anyway. And I needed external assistance for SMETANA and FLAGELLATION, although with hindsight I should really have worked out the latter. So the setter wins this one!

    I must say I wasn’t overly keen on the use of a speech impediment as a double letter indicator in INACCURATE, but apart from that, an enjoyable solve. Liked DISPENSER and STRAP in particular.

    Thanks both.

  19. An excellent Saturday puzzle – as challenging as the previous two (going back only as far as I remember!) but also solvable with enough patience and diligence, and highly enjoyable.

    I made a gentle point two weeks ago (in a Philistine puzzle) that some top setters quite often give very weak (broad/general) definitions or indications of the answer-words, the example I cited on that occasion being ‘way to test’ to indicate MEDICAL RESONANCE IMAGING. The further point I made was that this is justified when the wordplay is impeccable and a fuller definition would give away too much. I found three examples of this sort of thing in Picaroon’s puzzle: ‘off’ to indicate INACCURATE, ‘strips’ to indicate ISTHMI and ‘official’ to indicate OMBUDSMAN – all three of them good clues IMO, with definitions that were precise enough. And like paddymelon (@10), I got a sense of fair play with the puzzle as a whole.

    There were some excellent clues here, my pick being KEVIN RUDD, DISPENSER and the afore-mentioned INACCURATE.

    Thanks to Picaroon and mhl.

  20. I recall enjoying this a lot early last Saturday morning but a lot has happened since then. And, as I solve online, no helpful ticks, crosses and circles to remind me. But I certainly remember solving with a big smile. So, looking at the blog I think I was particularly impressed by HOBNOB, LITOTES, WHEELIE BIN, ISTHMI, LINGUINI, NUDISM and BAD EGG. Very nice to see Smetana getting some love this morning.

    Thanks Picaroon and mhl

  21. A nice puzzle this, with Picaroon’s customary skills.

    I love the word “palaver” ( in the clueing of 1 ac ) and it was nice to see “crumbs” rather than the recently occurring “my” or “cor” in the phrasing of 3 dn.

    IAMBS took me back to being taught metric feet, particularly iambic pentameters in English lessons at school.

    I learned from a quiz show this week that OMBUDSMAN is a Swedish word. Not sure there are many Swedish words in English but there is one annoying ITV advertisement where GRAVLAX is the main feature.

    Tim C @ 13 : we always used to send out for copious Hobnob biscuits in an office I once worked in. But, if the majority fancied dunking ( dipping ), you had to make sure you ordered the pure oatmeal variety and not the chocolate variety. Otherwise you would end up with a tainted brew of coffee or tea !

    Watching Murray ( v Bautista Agut ) in the Aus Open as I type this. He’s not doing too well – a set and a break down – but hope springs eternal.

    Thank you Picaroon and mhi.

  22. Tough but enjoyable. Lower half was easier for me.

    Favourites were FLAGELLATION, SANITY, BAGHDAD, INACCURATE (loi).

    17d – I wondered about the Anglo bit.

    New for me : RUDD = fish.

    Thanks, both.

  23. My only quibble is with CARRY ONES BAT. This is pretty obscure term even for a cricket enthusiast (guilty).

    e.g. Cricinfo only lists ~57 instance in all Test cricket of which, being parochial and recent, only 2 ENG players in the last 25 years.

    I’d also say the definition is a bit weak – avoids dismissal made me think of “GIVEN NOT OUT” rather than the actual answer.

    Other than that, this was a neat puzzle, tough in places (but fair) and good fun. Applause for KEVIN RUDD = ex-PM, more of this please!

    Thanks Picaroon and mhl!

  24. oops — my attempt to put a hyperlink in that last post went a bit awry. The entire last 2 paras are now a link to the (respectable) Circinfo stats page.

  25. LITOTES was not too bad at all and, like mhl, I enjoyed the definition for STRAP. I always enjoy a Picaroon puzzle.

  27. The usual high standard from Picaroon.

    GA @12, yes, it’s D for Germany as BAGHDAD has only one G. I particularly liked FLAGELLATION with a good surface and interesting wordplay, and ISTHMI for the clever definition.

    Thanks Picaroon and mhl.

  30. I am finding Picaroon increasingly difficult, so that must be my brain failing as most commenters have said how enjoyable it was, and in one case “reasonably straightforward”. Though I notice that a few have – like me – failed to finish. In fact I put this down last weekend with about half done and forgot to pick it back up. A mini-session this morning left me with four incomplete, though I was pleased to have dug KEVIN RUDD out of the slightly corroded memory banks.

    I couldn’t get HOBNOBS because I’m not into biscuits and the mention of ‘what socialite does’ misdirected me towards Ghislaine Maxwell, a worm hole I never managed to escape.

    Favourite bit was ‘trick cyclist does’=WHEELIE. Worth the entrance fee on its own.

    Thanks to Picaroon and mhl.

  31. I was so close today. I didn’t know the plural so I guessed IAMBI even though B1 is not such a bad grade.

    Epeesharkey@23. I don’t think it’s obscure. I know it, and what it means, even though I’ve never been interested in cricket.

  32. Great fun.

    Thank you for the explanation of Baghdad. It had to be the answer. But even after infinite staring the bag for land failed to register.

  33. Plenty to smile at.
    10a made a welcome change from the usual suspects. As Picaroon intended I spent some time trying to fit one of them in the wordplay rather than ex-PM being the definition.
    25a I wonder if a setter used this device 40-odd years ago when it was more literally true.
    One did manage to 1a once, actually.
    Thanks to Picaroon and manehi.

  35. I got most of this last week, but still couldn’t get BAGHDAD and BURMA until I cheated a bit this morning with the Check button.

    I think of “CRUMBS” as indicating displeasure, like “rats!”, while “yikes” has a component of being startled, probably unpleasantly.

    A linguist, who studies the nature and workings of language, isn’t necessarily a polyglot, who speaks a lot of them, though a person could certainly be both. Essexboy, what have you to say here?

    How nice — a PM not from the UK! Now let’s have a state that isn’t in the US. (I think we did once.)

    Nice puzzle, Picaroon, thank you. Snd thanks for the blog, mhl.

  36. sheffield hatter @30: I share your opinion that Picaroon has become more challenging. (I had written “not easy” on my paper copy of this crossword.) The same seems true of his alter-ego in the FT; just yesterday the blogger Turbolegs rated the Buccaneer crossword 10 out of 10 on his difficulty scale. I still find this setter worthwhile because I like the brain exercise and I find so many of his clues remarkable.

  37. Tony @36. I’m glad I’m not the only one! I like the brain exercise too, but more often it feels like bashing my head against a brick wall, and there’s not a lot of pleasure to be found there. (My fault rather than the setter’s, obviously. It’s all about flexibility, which I seem to be lacking at the moment.)

  38. Roz@16 Loved the joke.

    When a puzzle is challenging, clever and fair and you almost manage to complete it, there are fewer more satisfying way of spending a chilly Saturday morning. Especially so after an almost complete failure with Paul’s prize puzzle last week when I barely made it off the starting block.
    How different this week. CARRY ONE’S BAT went straight in (a very common phrase in the English game for a common enough occurrence, since, in general usage, it is not merely confined to openers, but to any higher order batter who remains not out). This gave me the perfect start, and though CEREBRATE and the cleverly clued NOVELETTE and ODDS ON held me up for longer than they should have the top half came together reasonably quickly.
    The SE section proved only too resistible in spite of a great deal of staring, but coming back to it the next day LINGUINI, NUDISM, and BAD EGG all dropped quickly. Having all of the available crossers made the previously unfathomable IAMBS and BAGHDAD my last two in. I finished somewhat awestruck by the sheer cleverness of those last five clues. Many thanks to Picaroon for so much pleasure, and to mhl and all contributors to a great blog.
    Valentine @35: My first thought was also that a linguist is primarily one who studies linguistics, but my second was that the word would surely also apply to one who is multilingual, and my OED not only confirmed this but gave it as the primary definition.

  39. PeterT @25: I see what you did there.

    My favorite recent real-world example of litotes: A driver of an el train* was pulling into one of the stations in the Loop. The station was crowded. He turned on his outside intercom and said, “Please stand away from the edge of the platform. If you fall…um, it’s not going to be good.” This got a laugh.

    Anyway, I enjoyed the puzzle and there’s not a whole lot more to add.

    *The train is called the el here even in the parts that aren’t elevated, and this was in fact one of the subway stations.

  40. Valentine @35 / len @38
    Perhaps we Brits are more easy-going when it comes to defining ‘linguist’?
    Collins online, under the ‘American English’ section taken from Webster’s, has:
    1. A specialist in linguistics, see also philologist
    …and then, rather disapprovingly
    2. Loosely, polyglot
    …whereas the British English section has them the other way round, like the OED.

    I wouldn’t think twice about describing someone who could speak several foreign languages as a ‘gifted linguist’, whether or not they were an expert in linguistics – with perhaps this proviso, that ‘linguist’ suggests someone who has learnt foreign languages the hard way (in school, or as an adult), rather than someone who is multilingual because they have been brought up in a multilingual family. (Of course, you can be both.)

    Incidentally, Picaroon is certainly a linguist in the polyglot sense – according to this write-up he teaches languages, and enjoys solving crosswords in French and Serbian! And, both from his crosswords and his occasional contributions here, I have no doubt that he is also a keen analyser of the way language works.

    In other news, ‘Yikes!” inevitably brings to mind Shaggy in Scooby Doo. I would say “Crumbs!” in the UK also expresses surprise – at least that’s how my Dad always used it. Maybe more awe than shock. “Crumbs, that was a tricky clue from Picaroon”, but “Yikes! It’s Enigmatist!” Thanks P & mhl.

  42. Essexboy @40, doesn’t Penfold (Danger Mouse’s hamster sidekick) often say “Crumbs!” in that sense?

  43. Crumbs was the favoured exclamation of Penfold, as voiced by Terry Scott, in the Danger Mouse cartoons, typically used with rough equivalence to Yikes.

    As for “Yikes, it’s Enigmatist!” see also: “Bloody hell, it’s Tyrus!” (in the Indy today). Worth a look if you’re feeling brave.

    Thanks, Picaroon & mhl. Not much to add to what everyone else has already said – typically splendid puzzle, super blog. Loved LITOTES in particular.

  47. Picaroon on good form today, with an admirable combination of wit and challenge. Favourites were 22a SMETANA, 8d ODDS ON (well-hidden definition), 20d NUDISM, and 23d EASEL (clever misdirection).

    I was a bit surprised that there were no objections to SMETANA. His most famous opera is “The Bartered Bride”, and I expected to see complaints that such an allusion to human trafficking was inappropriate in a Guardian crossword.

    Thanks, Picaroon for the fun and mhl for the helpful blog (especially for 12a LITOTES, which I got but couldn’t parse.)

    I also echo essexboy @45’s thoughts about Penfold. – I miss his witty comments, and I hope there is a benign reason for his absence.

  48. Flea @21. I was told ombudsman and smorgasbord are the only two legit English words adopted directly from Swedish

  49. I am surprised nobody else commented that in 24A BAGHDAD, Germany was D not G. The G comes from BAG.

    BAG = “Land” (e.g. “to land/bag a new client”) followed by HAD = “owned” around D = “Germany”

    Thanks for the blog

  51. A simply brilliant puzzle even though I missed out on CORN and BURMA by pencilling in guesses and failing to return.

    What lovely surfaces and misdirections? It was neat that HOBNOBS didn’t require knowledge of biscuits.

    Rob T @18: great that you needed external assistance with flagellation.

    Many thanks, Picaroon and mhl.

  53. Didn’t know the expression CARRY ONE’S BAT, but please to learn it. Hadn’t heard of SMETANA before, either.

    Graham@28: she was Di Spencer (he maiden name) at the time when she was bride-to-be. Then she became Di Windsor (presumably?).

    SH@30: as Choldunk(!) points out @51, biscuits don’t come into the clue for HOBNOBS; the definition is “what socialite does”.

    Valentine@35: I had the same thought re LINGUIST. I seem to remember a blog post by (American) ‘internet linguist’ Gretchen McCulloch where she was at pains to explain that, contrary to common belief, a linguist is NOT someone who speaks several languages. However, I knew, as EB states @40, that Picaroon was a teacher of modern languages*, and thought he would not make a mistake like that. Sure enough, eb also correctly summarises what I found in Collins online.

    mrpenney@39, I heard a train driver make everyone laugh once by warning that “unattended luggage may be removed and … er … (usually they say ‘disposed of’) … blown up!”. Not an example of litotes, I don’t think.

    *When I was lucky enough to meet him once, he told me he teaches Chinese.

  54. I liked the cluing for KEVIN RUDD, given his new role hob-nobbing with the great and good as the Ambassador to the USA. I can envisage a good deal of vin in his future, but not much kedgeree.

  56. Late thanks mhl for explaining the Anglo part of linguini, and echo the all-round praise above. Cellomaniac@47 my only objection to SMETANA was that I had to look him up online to check it wasn’t the almost-equally-plausible STEMANA. And I nearly complained that the “Nobs” in the wordplay for 11a are a bit close to the modern sense of hobnobbing as something for the socially upwardly mobile, but checking on Wiktionary tells me the source of the term is quite different. So thanks for another top class puzzle Picaroon.

  57. [Tony Collman@53: After a Prize Crossword, I always check back for the sack of nuggets you deliver a day or two later. Always solid fuel for thought. Appreciated!]

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