Guardian Cryptic 29,208 by Vulcan

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29208.

A pleasant start to the week, with plenty of very smooth surfaces. My favourite clue is 15A SIESTA.

ACROSS
7 RELATIVE
Cousin, 4, to report about (8)
An envelope (‘about’) of IV (Roman numeral, ‘4’) in RELATE (‘report’). If this looks like an indication by example, note that ‘cousin’ cam loosely mean any relative.
9 ABOARD
A group of directors on a cruise? (6)
A charade of ‘a’ plus BOARD (‘group of directors’).
10 ITEM
Couple I came across going the other way (4)
A charade of ‘I’ plus TEM, a reversal (‘going the other way’) of MET (‘came across’).
11 EXPERIMENT
One hands in very skilful lab work (10)
An envelope (‘in’) of I (‘one’) plus MEN (‘hands’) in EXPERT (‘very skillful’).
12 DRAGON
Fierce type in endless pain seen by doctor (6)
A charade of DR (‘doctor’) plus AGON[y] (‘pain’) minus its last letter (‘endless’).
14 ROADSIDE
Is adored to bits? That’s by the way (8)
An anagram (‘to bits’) of ‘is adored’.
15 SIESTA
Daybreak in Madrid (6)
Cryptic definition.
17 BEHIND
Supporting one’s bottom (6)
Double definition.
20 STUNTMAN
Daring chap to stand in for principal? (8)
Crypticish definition (for the real thing, see 15A).
22 VANISH
Vehicle is hot – it does this in a puff of smoke? (6)
A charade of VAN (‘vehicle’) plus ‘is’ plus H (‘hot’); the definition is a reference to the expression “vanish in a puff of smoke”.
23 SCHOOLBOYS
Young lads sharing a house perhaps, hopefully in good form (10)
Cryptic definition, with ‘house’ and ‘form’ being divisions in some schools..
24 BASH
Batter bowled: timber! (4)
A charade of B (‘bowled’, cricket summaries) plus ASH (‘timber’).
25 SEASON
Add spices in due time (6)
Double definition.
26 SPARKLER
One animated little firework (8)
Double definition.
DOWN
1 FEATURES
Face repair after use (8)
An anagram (‘repair’) of ‘after use’.
2 HARM
Hurt? Get something from pharmacy (4)
A hidden answer (‘get something from’) in ‘pHARMacy’.
3 PIGEON
Responsibility for bird (6)
Double definition (“not my pigeon”).
4 CARRIAGE
Charlie, not Mike, at front of wedding coach (8)
MARRIAGE (‘wedding’) with the initial M replaced by C (‘Charlie, not Mike, at front’ – NATO alphabet).
5 COMMISSION
Given duty, sort of chef is up and working (10)
A charade of COMMIIS (‘sort of chef’, an assistant) plus SI, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of ‘is’ plus ON (‘working’). ‘Given’ as an adjective in the definition.
6 IRONED
Pressed, I must accompany two guys (6)
A charade of ‘I’ plus (‘must accompany’) RON ED (‘two guys’).
8 EMPIRE
Former British possession in New York state (6)
New York is the EMPIRE State (as the Building).
13 GREENHOUSE
Eco-friendly accommodation, but no one would live in it (10)
A charade of GREEN (‘eco-friendly’) plus HOUSE (‘accommodation’).
16 TUMBLING
In navel diamond perhaps falling (8)
A charade of TUM (stomach, ‘navel’ or thereabouts) plus BLING (‘diamond perhaps’).
18 DISASTER
Calamity as Diana succeeded Daisy (8)
A charade of DI (‘Diana’) plus S (‘succeeded’) plus ASTER (‘daisy’).
19 SNOOPS
Goes sneakily about lifting cutlery (6)
A reversal (‘lifting’ in a down light) of SPOONS (‘cutlery’).
21 TICKET
Travel card: one’s told to validate it (6)
Sounds like (‘one’s told’) TICK (‘validate’) ‘it’.
22 VASSAL
Virginia, girl brought up as dependant (6)
A charade of VA (US Postal Service approved abbreviation, ‘Virginia’) plus SSAL, a reversal (‘brought up’ in a down light) of LASS (‘girl’).
24 BAKE
Get very hot regularly in Black Sea (4)
Alternate letters (‘regularly’) of ‘BlAcK sEa’.

picture of the completed grid

70 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,208 by Vulcan”

  1. Very enjoyable, thanks Vulcan.

    New to me: a commis chef, and pigeon/responsibility. The only clue I didn’t think much of was SCHOOLBOYS, which I needed all the intersecting clues to get.

    Favourite clue was for SIESTA. (Another for the same word that I rather like is “The rest of Spain”.)

    Thanks for the blog, PeterO.

  2. I’d never heard of that meaning of PIGEON either, so it was my unparsed LOI.

    SIESTA is good except that to start with I had FIESTA, which I claim is also a perfectly good kind of daybreak in Madrid…

    Thanks Vulcan and Peter!

  6. Thank you PeterO. Took me a while to see the “crypticish” definition of STUNTMAN. Having figured it ended in MAN, I was trying to work out what the ‘principal’ was that it subsituted for.

    [Thanks KVa @3 for the greenhouse living movement. I got excited about the idea of all day healthy snacking without getting out of bed, but then thought how intolerable the heat and humidity would be, from experiences of Australian greenhouses. Reading on down, I see it originated in Sweden. That makes sense.]

    PIGEON for responsibility led me to find them as synonyms on an online thesaurus, but no etymology. Both male and female pigeons look after their young. Could that be it?

    Liked the amusing SIESTA and IRONED. EXPERIMENT was very skilful, my fave.

  7. 3d: Surely the phrase is It’s not my pidgin, literally meaning It’s not my language and taken to mean I don’t know [anything] about it?

  8. Another bemused by PIGEON – it was a bird, it fitted the crossers, bung it in. LOI was EMPIRE, as the “former” in the clue had me searching for EXP_R_ words. Not so sure about SPARKLER as an animated person either, though I bunged it anyway for the little firework. Overall, though, it was a pleasant solve – thanks, Vulcan and PeterO.

  9. I think TT@8 has the right word – a pleasant solve. Rightly calibrated for a Monday morning. I did raise an eyebrow at ‘cousin’ as a DBE but, for anyone who has watched The Bear of late, the practice of calling most family members that is one I have encountered if not employed. PIGEON meant nothing to me so went it with a shrug. SIESTA and BEHIND were my favourites today.

    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO

  10. Justigator@7. That’s certainly the origin of the phrase, according to Brewer’s, though it says that pigeon is more commonly used.
    Nice puzzle.
    Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO

  11. Lovely – and I too really like (a) SIESTA (15a), PeterO. I didn’t understand 3d PIGEON either, I have to say, but it had to be that. Ticks for 12a DRAGON, 17a BEHIND, 25a SEASON, 26a SPARKLER (I actually thought it was an apt description of my sparkling lively little two year old granddaughter, TassieTim@8) and 16d TUMBLING (at which I laughed out loud). Those solutions (and the whole puzzle) proved yet again that it doesn’t have to be rocket science to be enjoyable. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  12. Justigator@7. Collins agrees with you, but I’m still intrigued. Colonial times?
    pigeon
    in British English
    (?p?d??n IPA Pronunciation Guide)
    NOUN
    British informal
    concern or responsibility (often in the phrase it’s his, her, etc, pigeon)
    Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
    Word origin
    C19: altered from pidgin

  13. PIGEON I took this to be a reference to the phrase “not my business, concern, affair, or interest”

    As often with Vulcan, quite straightforward, but I had to chew a bit on the last few.

    An excellent CD for once in SIESTA. The are really a great clue type when well executed, unlike SCHOOLBOYS. I also enjoyed TUMBLING.

    Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO

  16. Justigator @7… I think you’re on the right track. CCD (Chambers Crossword Dictionary) has both pigeon and pidgin for “concern”. Chambers has “pidgin n a Chinese corruption of business (also pidgeon or pigeon); affair, concern (also pidgeon or pigeon; inf); any combination and distortion of two languages as a means of communication.” It also has “pigeon2 same as pidgin.

  17. I have heard “not my pigeon” in the wild: my inner ear hears my ex-army officer uncle saying it and he served a term of duty in Hong Kong, so who knows where he originally acquired that phrase into his idiolect. Didn’t make the clue any easier to solve, I needed all the crossers too.

    I also needed all the crossers for STUNTMAN, EMPIRE and SCHOOLBOYS. SIESTA made me smile as did DISASTER.

    Thank you to PeterO and Vulcan.

  18. Thanks all for the explanation of PIGEON. Really liked SIESTA and TUMBLING. The usual pleasant start to the week.

    Ta Vulcan & PeterO.

  20. With just the E of tickEt confirmed I wasted time wondering whether the answer was OYSTER as in oyster card. In hindsight probably because of a certain resonance between “not my pigeon” and “the world’s your oyster”. Maybe I need a 15A…

  21. SIESTA was my LOI It was a PDM when I reached the SIE…… words in the dictionary. Excellent CD.

    Thanks for discussion above concerning PIGEON : PIDGIN. I was in the ‘it’s not my pigeon’ camp but it’s fascinating to learn this was originally pidgin.

    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO

  23. Very smoothly clued this morning, I thought, with particular ticks for EXPERIMENT and DRAGON. The SW corner held me up latterly before I realised how SCHOOLBOYS worked. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO…

  24. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO
    Very smooth, though I found it much easier than the Quiptic. Enjoyable, with no quibbles.

  25. 4 dd and 3 cd, I never understand why people find these easy. However, with a few crossers they are of course solvable. Good Monday fare; I liked the surface of EXPERIMENT and SIESTA. Never heard of PIGEON for responsibility (so don’t blame we Brits for it).

    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO.

  26. Too quipticish for my taste. I thought “Calamity as Diana’s succeeded by Daisy” would have been a slightly more elegant clue for DISASTER. And I must move in different linguistic circles than most here, because I thought “not my pigeon” was common usage when denying responsibility.

    Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  27. So pigeon might come from pidgin, which might be pidgin Chinese for business … hmm. But agree, Charles @26, as responsibility it’s quite familiar.

  28. Thanks Vulcan and PeterO. A pleasant solve, as others have said, though I wasn’t helped in the SW by entering FRONTMAN (Daring chap) for 20a. Eventually saw the error of my ways!

  29. I didn’t find this easier than the Quiptic, though I probably should have done. Just not on Vulcan’s wavelength this morning for the cryptic-ish SCHOOLBOYS and STUNTMAN. Didn’t know PIGEON=responsibility, but it had to be that. TUM BLING made me laugh.

  30. A gentle and pleasant enough solve. Fave was TUMBLING, even if it’s been done before.

    Thanks Vulcan and PeterO

  31. Guessed it had to be PIGEON so looked it up: “(archaic, idiomatic, UK, informal) Concern or responsibility.” Never come across that usage.
    Good Monday puzzle. Thanks both.

  32. Pleasant and smooth, as others have said. Good surfaces, though the clue for TUMBLING is rather strange – but I liked the wordplay.

    ‘Not my PIGEON (pidgin)’ was a familiar enough expression to me, though dated, I think. LOI was the perfectly formed SIESTA. I agree with Robi @25 that DDs and CDs can be tricky. I used to find Rufus puzzles more difficult than most people because of the preponderance of these – his clues were always so economical it wasn’t easy to tell what type they were.

    Thanks to S&B

  33. Got most of this but had to reveal a few. I came across ‘pidgin/pigeon’ with this meaning in Brief Encounter – Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) says to Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson): “Pneumonoconiosis is my pigeon/pidgin”. I don’t know if there’s an official screenplay with an official spelling for this though.

  34. I agree that SIESTA was good. I also liked EMPIRE. A nice mixture of write-ins and clues that required more thought. PIGEON wasn’t a problem for me, though I’ve only ever heard it in that one phrase: mostly in British films pre 1970. A good start to the week. With thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  37. I think the clue for SCHOOLBOYS is flabby.

    “Somebody’s pigeon” seems to be one of those expressions that are used only in the negative. Does anybody say “That’s my pigeon”? Dr Harvey might be an exception.

    Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.

  41. [ AlanC @18 I managed Number 1 in Azed yesterday which counts double, at last I have moved off 33, it is now 35-15 . ]

  42. Thanks to Vulcan and PeterO.
    I liked SIESTA very much. Liked BASH and TUMBLING too.
    But ornithology’s not my wigeon.

  43. What on earth is COMMIS (“sort of chef”)? Is that a slang abbreviation for “commissioner”? If so, in the US it’s spelt COMMISH.

    You can make an ordinary clue out of 20 as:
    Daring (as noun) = STUNT
    chap = MAN
    to stand in for principal? = what a stuntman does

  46. I sometimes wonder why people feel the need to compare the relative difficulty of the Monday Cryptic and Quiptic puzzles.

    Today, unlike most commenters, I found the Cryptic slightly more difficult than the Quiptic. So what?

    Favourites were 15a SIESTA and 16d TUMBLING. Thanks, Vulcan and PeterO for the fun.

  48. muffin@47
    I thought the Monday cryptic was supposed to be relatively easy, and given that solvers’ experiences are going to differ, calling one of two “easy” puzzles easier is often a subjective and purely personal assessment. If both are “easy”, then they both satisfy their mandate, and perceived relative differences are, in my opinion, irrelevant.

  49. cellomaniac
    The Monday cryptic might be easier by custom, but the Quiptic is easier by intention – only, so often, it isn’t!

  50. I will also join the set who feel that “Not my pigeon” is no more acceptable than “just desserts” used non-ironically.

  51. 3dn – I explained it as a stool pigeon being responsible for someone doing bird ie time in clink. I’m obviously overthinking it again!

  52. muffin,
    Granted, but why must “easier by intention” be easier than “easier by custom”? They both should be easier than the puzzles for the rest of the week, but why does one have to be easier than the other? Is there a Guardian policy to that effect?

    I agree that, if a Quiptic is harder than a Tuesday through Saturday puzzle, it fails its mandate. Subjectively, I didn’t think this week’s Quiptic failed in that regard.

  53. cellomaniac
    We seem to be at cross purposes here. The remit of the Quiptic is “a puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry” (or similar) so should be easier than all the cryptics.

  54. muffin and Cellomaniac. I hear you both, but who can ever give a ranking of ‘easiness’ in crosswords? Reminds me of the story of the Oxford don giving a maths lecture to undergrads. He writes a lemma on the blackboard, stands back, and says ‘this is trivial’ as he’s poised to go on with the core of the lecture. He then looks at the board for 50 minutes, and says finally ‘yes it is trivial’ before going on with the proof. (Marginally garbled version since 55 years old for me).

  55. Can anyone point me in any sort of direction for 7a and 1d please?

    Trying to get a few answers outside the anagrams before revealing them.

  56. 7a is 2 letters for “4” inside a 6 letter word for report (or tell) Steffen @55. 1d turns out to be an anagram (the indicator for that is “repair”).

  58. polyphone@54, you are making one of my points. Degree of difficulty varies from solver to solver – it is subjective.

    In addition, to apply muffin’s rule (the Quiptic must always be easier than the Cryptic) the Quiptic setter must see that day’s Cryptic, and adjust her Quiptic according to someone’s perception of the Cryptic’s difficulty.

  59. Question time…

    15a – is daybreak not related to the “dawn” of the day?

    19d – I had KNIVES…sneakily = CONNIVING. I thought it might be a sounds like clue.

    18a – ‘s’ for succeeded…is this a common abbreviation? What is ASTER all about?

    23a – where is the definition in this clue?

  60. Steffen @ 56

    15A Yes, on the face of it, but in cryptic terms a siesta is a break in the day

    19D No, it’s a cunningly disguised reversal

    18A S = ‘succeeded’ is a standard abbreviation in genealogy and reg(in)al sequences

    23A It’s a ‘clue as definition’, aka sometimes an &lit, ie clue, wordplay and solution are intertwined

    hth

  62. Steffen, 15a, what you might call a break in the day in Spain.
    19d, different pieces of cutlery, reversed (lifted).
    18d, yes s can be succeeded (as in family trees), a daisy is an aster (flower).
    23a, two definitions split by the comma, both cryptically public schoolish , and many consider it a poor clue.

  64. GreginSyd@63. I also thought of chef-de-mission, but have now learned about the commis chef, and can’t find way to parse COMMISSION with chef doing double duty.

  65. A lovely puzzle that didn’t feel as cruel as some of the other cryptics. I was able to complete it and parse everything except pigeon. Thanks Peter and others for all the pigeon explanations.

  67. Thanks Tyro @51. I was trying to remember how I had the inkling that Pigeon meant Responsibility – most likely from “stool pigeon”, I’m sure. The origin of older slang must be hard even for experts to determine. Apart from the Chinese word for business (for which I could find no detail/confirmation) I also thought of (1) pigeon keeping was once a common practice no doubt requiring some responsibility on the part of the owners (2) pigeons have done many important duties for mankind, particularly as carriers in WW1.
    Great blog. Thank you all, esp. Vulcan and PeterO.

  70. I don’t think I’ve heard this pigeon since the 70s. OED gives latest two quotations:

    1961
    Well, you do something, Thomas Henry, it’s your pigeon.
    L. P. Hartley, Two for River
    1989
    This isn’t his pigeon. He’s probably in bed.
    P. D. James, Devices & Desires xxiv

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