Guardian 29,198 / Brummie

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It’s Brummie filling the midweek slot this morning.

There are several less common words here but I found the solving quite straightforward, with a fair number of charades. I failed to spot a theme – Brummie often has one but not always – but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one, of course. Thanks in advance to anyone who finds one.

Favourite clues were 12ac SCENIC, 16/6 MORE’S THE PITY, 6dn PARTITA and 13dn CROISSANT.

Thanks to Brummie for the puzzle.

Definitions are underlined in the clues

 

Across

1 Hopes dashed with foul, inferior accommodation (9)
FLOPHOUSE
An anagram (dashed – good indicator) of HOPES and FOUL – a new word for me, apparently North American in origin

8 Breakdown and its possible remedy (8)
ANALYSIS
Double definition

9 Very Republican line brings no joy (6)
SORROW
SO (very) + R (Republican) + ROW (line)

10 Winged fruit remains crucial (3-3)
ASH-KEY
ASH (remains) + KEY (crucial)

11 Broadcast hammered — that’s beyond dispute (8)
AIRTIGHT
AIR (broadcast) + TIGHT (hammered = drunk)

12 Lovely to see doctor since catching cold (6)
SCENIC
An anagram (doctor) of SINCE round C (cold)

15 Book feature: ‘Aim to do some decorating’ (8)
ENDPAPER
END (aim) + (wall)PAPER (do some decorating)

16 Article (mine) is covered by customs duty ultimately, alas (5,3,4)
MORE’S THE PITY
THE (article) + PIT (mine) in MORES (customs) [dut]Y

19 Absolve yourself from plan embracing overthrow of Church (6)
RECUSE
RUSE (plan) round a reversal (overthrow) of CE (Church of England)

21 Audibly resembling fool about to get fake tan (8)
ASSONANT
ASS (fool) ON (about) + an anagram (fake) of TAN

22 Understudies accepting credit for theatre attire (6)
SCRUBS
SUBS (understudies) round CR (credit)

24 Campaign lacks its ultimate material (6)
CANVAS
CANVAS[s] (campaign) minus its last letter

25 Exercise affected aliens’ discipline (8)
PENALISE
PE (exercise) + an anagram (affected) of ALIENS

26 Potent male boss (4)
STUD
Double definition: it seems a long time since I’ve seen this old chestnut

27 Withdrawal of Noises Off after short period (9)
SECESSION
An anagram (off) of NOISES after SEC[ond] (short period)

 

Down

1 Joy’s keeping diamonds and money available (5)
FUNDS
FUNS (joy’s) round D (diamonds)

2 Tar protection to help produce a smoother complexion? (7)
OILSKIN
OIL SKIN (help produce a smoother complexion) – I liked  the definition

3 Chaffy the dog (5)
HUSKY
Chaff = husks – a Paul-type clue

4 Lift leg and put in the shade (7)
UPSTAGE
UP (lift) + STAGE (leg)

5 Cult film‘s undemanding added condition (4,5)
EASY RIDER
EASY (undemanding) + RIDER (added condition)

6 Knocked back gin and it to the accompaniment of a musical suite (7)
PARTITA
A reversal (knocked back) of TRAP (gin) + IT + (to the accompaniment of) A

7 Ineffective without a canine? (9)
TOOTHLESS
Double / cryptic definition – with a question mark to indicate definition by example

13 Rocky co-stars in Roll (9)
CROISSANT
An anagram (rocky) of CO-STARS IN

14 Cleansing starch is an unnamed variation (9)
CATHARSIS
An anagram (variation) of STARCH IS A[n] minus n (unnamed)

17 Garden-dweller keeps abbreviated book on source of dahlias unfolded (7)
EVOLVED
EVE (garden dweller – a change from ‘first lady’) round VOL[ume] (abbreviated book) + D[ahlias]

18 Pathologically misplaced poetic composition about college (7)
ECTOPIC
An anagram (composition) of POETIC round C (college)

20 Composer‘s heart dicky when rising (7)
CORELLI
CORE (heart) + a reversal (when rising, in a down clue) of ILL (dicky)

22 Star lives up tiny narrow passage (5)
SINUS
A reversal (up, in a down clue) of SUN (star) + IS (lives)

23 Depression is over on entering bar (5)
BASIN
Another reversal (over) of IS in BAN (bar)

67 comments on “Guardian 29,198 / Brummie”

  1. Solid – not in a bad way. Ticks for RECUSE, SINUS and HUSKY

    Somewhat shocked to find I didn’t know how to spell CANVASS correctly!

    Cheers B&E

  2. Very enjoyable; Goldilocks level. I didn’t know gin/trap — but I do now. The only ones that were new to me were FLOPHOUSE & ASH-KEY.

    Thanks Brummie & Eileen.

  3. Thanks Brummie and Eileen
    Held up a bit by entering ENDCOVER, but once this was corrected, it went quite easily. I like ASSONANT and SCRUBS (operating theatre wear rather than stage!).

  4. [GDU
    I’m all too familiar with ash keys,a nd also sycamore ones – spring in our garden means removing literally thousands of tree seedlings!]

  5. Very enjoyable start to the day. It mostly flowed for me, though the SW took me a bit longer. I was defeated by only one: ASH KEY. I had the key part and the s. I have no excuse. Very much a “doh!” moment. Apart from that clue, I especially liked ECTOPIC, OILSKIN and PARTITA. Had never really thought of CROISSANT as a roll before, but seems that it is. I was confused by the parsing of EVOLVED as I had vole in mind (with v for volume). I couldn’t work out where the first e fitted in. I was so focused on it that I didn’t see the alternative (!). With thanks to Brummie and Eileen.

  6. I looked for a good while to see a theme. In the south west corner perimeter reading up from the bottom is the word SCAMS, but I can;t see any reason why that is relevant. 1a & 10a new to me.

  7. An excellent crossword, although I would expect nothing else from this accomplished setter.

    The only raise of eyebrows was at CATHARSIS where I felt cathartic fitted “cleansing” better. Also, the slightly clunky anagram fodder…I wonder if Brummie might have been tempted by something based on “a Christmas with no Mass…”?

    Many thanks, both.

  8. Thanks Brummie and Eileen. One day, my first interpretation of the word ‘theatre’ in a clue will be ‘operating theatre’ as intended in 9 clues out of 10. But not today.

  9. A tale of not-quite-right words for me this morning: (R)ECESSION. CATHAR(TIC). (RE)SONANT… Must read clues more carefully! Also missed MORES=customs. Can’t see a theme, either.

    Favourites CROISSANT, SCENIC, OILSKIN, TOOTHLESS.

  10. 11a – I don’t understand TIGHT. How does it relate to hammered/drunk?

    22a – I was going on ROBE for “attire”. No idea.

    I solved 24a, 7d and 13d.

    #failure

    Thank you for explanations.

  12. Thanks Brummie and Eileen

    William @ 7 I see your point about CATHARTIC, but -SIS works if you see ‘cleansing’ as a gerund (and is necessary for the puzzle, of course).

  13. William@7. cathartic would be appropriate for the surface, but CATHARSIS (noun) can be a cleansing (noun) . The answer is determined by the wordplay. The definition is the setter’s trick.

  14. Simon S@12: You have reminded of a line manager I had many years ago who told me that he deprectated the use of gerunds..

  17. Like muffin@4 my garden is full of ash keys but I’d never heard them called that, so it was LOI. [long may the ash keys remain as 80% of the ashes near our house have ash die-back.]

  19. About the theme. Well, OILSKIN and HUSKY are types/brands of jackets, the latter favoured by the British royal family, I see. Both useful in the European winter. CORELLI composed the Christmas Concerto. And in the middle of the grid, if you read across rows 7 and 9, you can see ICE THERE. 🙂

  20. There are some art and theatre words seen. Not sure if they are related to ‘the’ theme.
    HOUSE, ROW, AIR, SCENIC, END, PAPER, PIT, SCRUB, CANVAS, PEN, OIL, STAGE, ART, PIC…

  21. Just about the perfect puzzle for me. Lots of new words, but clearly clued, and a good feeling of satisfaction on completion. Thanks to Brummie and Eileen

  23. I wondered if there was a TV and film theme in there : Captain CORELLI’s mandolin, EASY RIDER, The SORROW and the PITY, SCRUBS, The STUD, TOOTHLESS, AIRTIGHT …

    Thank you Brummie and Eileen.

  24. ASH-KEY, nho. Had to look it up. Thought it was that thing on my computer spoken in Cockney. Keys are indehiscent. Then had to look up dehisce. Wordplay was fair though.

  26. Thanks AlanC for the earworm@22. Still have the vinyl, with a rhythmic scratch, like a bit of gravel caught in the wheels on an unpaved road. How about former FLOPHOUSE dwellers.?

  28. Thank you Eileen and Brummie.
    My favs were MORE’S THE PITY and ECTOPIC, both clever and well-disguised.
    ASSONANT was redolent of a certain ex-wannabe-president. (Did anyone else look for examples of assonance in the answers?)

  29. Perhaps we could ban the word “homophone” from these pages and use ASSONANT instead? Has Brummie been reading the interminable discussions on here? 😉

  31. Enjoyable puzzle. Started at a trot in NW but then got more challenged.
    @1 I also didn’t know to spell CANVASS but I guess you more often see “canvassing”.

    Thanks both.

  34. Got there in the end! Nice puzzle Brummie and thank you Eileen for the blog.
    My earworm today was Julian Cope’s Easy Easy Rider from the brilliant Peggy Suicide.

  35. Not many in on first pass but then the SE corner filled up, giving a toehold for the rest – enjoyable solve.

    I liked EVOLVED for the unusual garden-dweller, MORES THE PITY and PARTITA for the wordplays, and SCENIC and BASIN for the surfaces. TILT was FLOPHOUSE and also ASH-KEY (I’m no longer using my old wooden keyboard).

    Thanks to Brummie for the challenge and Eileen for illuminating it all.

  36. I have nothing much to add. FLOPHOUSE was not a new word for me–surprised to learn it’s American–but the thing itself is largely in the past. I feel like it’s a word I’ve encountered most often in writing from and about the early 20th century–Steinbeck, Dos Passos, etc. A few months ago we watched a very sad documentary (made 20 years ago or so) about the denizens of one of New York’s last flophouses, and the filmmaker made the point that they were a vanishing thing.

    I had not heard the term ASH-KEY, though.

  38. For whatever reason I’m not normally a Brummie fan (no soccer reference intended there), but I loved this. I think I was fortunate initially being familiar with my first three in, FLOPHOUSE, RECUSE and a film that made a huge impression on a much younger version of me when it first came out, EASY RIDER. Thereafter some helpful anagrams, though SCENIC and POETIC rather samey in their construction. Last one in was ANALYSIS with a slight raised eyebrow…

  39. Thanks both. Very enjoyable. The only new word for me was Partita, but I know all about GIN TRAPS and once I looked at it horizontally with the crossers, well PARTITA sounded like a pice of music.. I did have to look up TILT and now I have Paul McCartney in my head, although that would be TWST.

  41. Could some kind soul explain GIN/TRAP? I was doubly foxed on 6D since I have NHO PARTITA.

    Other than that, good clean fun. Thank you Eilleen and Brummie.

  42. Apropos of not much (it just struck me as curious), 14D would still work without ‘unnamed’, because then there’d be no N to remove: ‘Cleansing starch is a variation’.

  44. Jacob @41
    A gin trap is a sort of sprint loaded trap – see here

    [Ronakd @39
    You’ve reminded me of the Jasper Carrott line:
    “I went to watch Birmingham City on Saturday. I said to the guy next to me……OI!].

  46. When looking at 4d, I had crossers U – – – A – E in place, and millimeters away from “Lift leg” was “dog” in the previous clue. Now tell me you wouldn’t have tried to make URINATE work too!

  47. Straightforward and well-clued puzzle with some nice words. FLOPHOUSE was new to me, but I’m only too familiar with ASH-KEYs, for the same reason as muffin @4. [The technical term for a winged seed like that of ash or maple is ‘samara’ – one to remember, perhaps, as it has a useful letter distribution for crosswords].

    Gin/trap used to appear much more frequently. It reminds me of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in Fitzgerald’s translation:

    Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin
    Beset the Road I was to wander in,
    Thou wilt not with Predestined Evil round
    Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin!

    Despite the poet’s fondness for a tipple (A Loaf of Bread, a Jug of Wine and Thou) the reference here is to a snare and not spirituous liquor 🙂

    Thanks to Brummie and Eileen

  48. Never heard of ASH-KEYs. In the US the ubiquitous tree with winged seeds is the maple. My yard, like muffin’s@4, is filled with tiny maple seedlings in spring. In the fall the hillsides are brilliant yellow with their changing leaves.

    I liked Noises Off @27ac.

    Pleasant puzzle. Thanks to Brummie for the puzzle and Eileen for the very entertaining blog.

  49. Slow start, but got there in the end, following Robi @35’s path. ASH-KEY and gin/trap new to me also, so I couldn’t parse PARTITA. Satisfying overall.

  50. Thanks Eileen, I found this tricky in spots thanks to some sleight of hand but count me with those who appreciated the well-clued jora (and with those who have to uproot a few sycamore seedlings from unlikely places each spring, they seem very efficient reproducers). Johannes@42 that is a very neat observation. Thanks Brummie.

  51. ASH-KEY was new to me too. I guessed PARTITA but annoyed I didn’t spot the upside down TRAP for gin.
    Thanks both

  54. KateE
    A supposed plural of JORUM, an example of an unknown word made up from the wordplay that turns out to be correct!
    Someone – Eileen, I think – some time ago solved jorum in a puzzle, and then coined the usage for such clues.

  56. Gervase@47: Thanks for the quote from Omar Khayyam, via Fitzgerald. Well remembered (re gin). I recall that a few years back ISIS went out of their way to destroy a statue of the poet. Apart from their general antipathy towards images of people and animals, they could not forgive his essential humanism, and his scepticism when it comes to religion. Long may his memory and his words endure.

  57. Re 10a, never having heard of the winged seed, I guessed ESC-KEY and ASH-KEY from the crossers and the rest of the wordplay, and then won the coin toss.

    Favourites were 9a SORROW (for the political surface), 2d OILSKIN (for the definition), 3d HUSKY (very Paulesque, as Eileen noted), and 17d EVOLVED (for the deceptive definition that could have been an anagrind).

    Thanks Brummie and Eileen for the typicality high-quality puzzle and blog.

  58. I’m really really surprised that so many here hadn’t heard of ASH KEYS. They featured on “Nature Table” at primary school for me!

  59. Ronald @38: did you also find “is” being spelt backwards in two successive clues (SINUS & BASIN) rather samey in their construction, too?

  61. ‘Every single night when me da would come home tight’ (https://youtu.be/S7woEXovruc?si=NsGMKIcfz9i2Uo73) from ‘Come out ye Black and Tans’ is what I think of every time I come across ‘tight’ meaning ‘drunk’ in a crossword. I’ve heard all of the vocal including ‘ash key’ and ‘flophouse’ (and even the abbreviated version ‘flop’) but still had to reveal several answers unfortunately.

  62. [Muffin@58. Closest we got in school to nature was that ‘concrete is good’ . Love the idea of a nature table – we just had same for rocks and chemicals.]

  64. Muffin @58 Yes, it surprised me that something I’d always assumed (without really thinking about it) to be common knowledge turns out to be a rare and esoteric term. We must take care to preserve these things!

  66. Late reply from me, but many thanks Muffin for JURA.
    And ash-key known from my kids’ nature tables certainly.

  67. Found this a good challenge as I always find Brummie tricky. Had to reveal PARTITA as both the word and the gin/trap parsing were new to me. Always pleased to see RECUSE, a beloved civil service verb.

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