Guardian Cryptic 29,250 by Brummie

by

Thanks to Brummie for the puzzle – my favourites were 21ac, 2dn, 12dn, 14dn, and 20dn.

9ac was last in, I guessed using the crossers and had to look up the parsing.

ACROSS
7 HEARING
Failing to start clipping trial (7)
[s]-HEARING=”clipping”, missing its first letter / “Failing to start”
8 RESPOND
Counter on small pool (7)
RE=about, concerning=”on” + S (small) + POND=”pool”
9 SKIP
Botha’s back-tracking dodge? (4)
PIK’S, reversed/”back-tracking”

PIK Botha was a South African politician [wiki]
10 EMPTINESS
Void produced by Epstein and Beatles ultimately failing to take moral lead (9)
anagram/”produced by” (Epstein s)*, using the last/ultimate letter of [Beatle]-s around the lead letter of M-[oral]

Brian Epstein [wiki] managed the Beatles
12 STRUT
Act as a peacock‘s prop? (5)
double definition: to strut/swagger like a peacock, or a strut=a support=a prop
13 RANCHERO
Hacienda manager trotted around with lion (8)
RAN=”trotted” + C (circa, “around”) + HERO=”lion”
15, 16, 17 LORD PRIVY SEAL
Minister realigned Pisa? Very droll! (4,5,4)
anagram/”realigned” of (Pisa Very droll)*
16
See 15
 
17
See 15
 
18 FRIGHTEN
‘Marsh crushes political faction’ scare (8)
FEN=”Marsh” around RIGHT=”political faction”
20 SYLPH
Sly, unsteady boozer, who’s quite slim (5)
anagram/”unsteady” of (Sly)*; plus PH (public house, “boozer” as in a place to drink)
21 PERSONNEL
Staff‘s contribution to papers on Nelson (9)
hidden in/part of/”contribution to”: pa-PERS ON NEL-son
22 DIRT
Policeman has right time – and gossip! (4)
DI (Detective Inspector, “Policeman”) + R (right) + T (time)
24 POINTER
Dog that’s handy in a laser presentation (7)
double definition: a breed of dog; or a laser pointer used when presenting e.g. a slideshow
25 WRITING
Broadcast rectifying text (7)
sounds like (when “Broadcasting”): ‘righting’=”rectifying”
DOWN
1
See 21
 
2 PREPARED
Already shaved and ready (8)
PRE-PARED can be read as ‘pared in advance’=”Already shaved”
3 INVEST
Try to make money having lost your shirt? (6)
someone who has lost their shirt might only be IN [i.e. wearing a] VEST
4 LENIENCY
Nicely manoeuvres round measure for tolerance (8)
anagram/”manoeuvres” of (Nicely)*, around EN=”measure” in typography
5 SPEECH
Talk of leak being suppressed by school (6)
PEE=”leak”, inside SCH (school)
6 ONES
Units regularly taking drugs (4)
definition: as in the ‘ones’ part of a number before the decimal point, not the ‘tens’, ‘hundreds’, ‘thousands’, etc

ON=”regularly taking” + ES (plural of E for ecstasy, “drugs”)
11 PERPIGNAN
French city papering over new cracks (9)
anagram/”cracks” of: (papering)* around N (new)
12 SPOOR
Track suit opening broke (5)
definition: the track or scent of an animal

opening letter of S-[uit] + POOR=”broke”
14 REACH
Run every single stretch (5)
R (Run, cricket scoring) + EACH=”every single”
16 PATHOGEN
Disease-causing organism – track oxygen data (8)
PATH=”track” + O (oxygen) + GEN (knowledge, “data”)
17 SOLIDITY
Unyielding state makes a Republican withdraw from group support (8)
SOLID-[a R]-ITY=”group support”, with ‘a R’ (a Republican) removed/withdrawn
19 GERUND
End of mourning under review, as exemplified in this clue? (6)
definition: this clue has “mourning” as an example of a gerund, and perhaps also highlights the “End of mourn-ing“, the -ing form typical of gerunds

end letter of [mournin]-G + anagram/”review” of (under)*
20 SULTRY
Following rise of American left, judge is oppressive (6)
definition: sultry weather is hot, humid, and oppressive

US=”American” reversed vertically/”up”; plus L (left) + TRY=put to trial=”judge”
21, 1 POOP DECK
Part of the craft of putting polonium on work dress (4,4)
definition: part of a ship / naval craft

PO (polonium) + OP (opus, “work”) + DECK=decorate, adorn=”dress”
23 RUNG
Proceed quickly with opening of gin bar (4)
definition as in a rung of a ladder, or in a hierarchy

RUN=”Proceed quickly” + opening letter of G-[in]

58 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,250 by Brummie”

  1. I found this hard to get going, but once I had a few crossers everything speeded up. I still think it is quite tough for a Monday! Thanks Brummie and manehi

  2. Never heard of PERPIGNAN or Pik Botha. I thought a LORD PRIVY SEAL was a red wax impression on a document, but now I know it’s a person! Couldn’t parse ONES.

  4. Thanks Brummie and manehi
    Some obscurities here – Pik Botha, lion for HERO, stretch for REACH..
    I liked PERSONNEL, ONES (sorry TimC), and LOI INVEST (though that might not work across the Atlantic).

  6. Tim C @3: I had the opposite reaction to ONES. I also liked EMPTINESS, LORD PRIVY SEAL, SKIP, PERPIGNAN, PERSONNEL and POINTER. There seem to be a lot of PEEs in the grid. Tough but very enjoyable Monday challenge.

    Ta Brummie & manehi.

  7. I found this moderately difficult and very enjoyable. Was very pleased to be able to complete it.

    Favourites: SPEECH, SYLPH, PERSONNEL, INVEST, RESPOND.

    New for me: POOP DECK, Pik Botha (for 9ac).

    Thanks, both.

  8. Enjoyable, but certainly a lot tougher than the traditional Monday fare.
    I thought PERSONNEL was clever – I only noticed the answer hiding in plain sight on the second or third time through. SPEECH was amusing and I liked GERUND, though after several decades I still haven’t worked out what use it actually is to know that “a gerund is a verbal noun”.
    The long one across the middle called to mind the old line that the holder of this office was neither a Lord, nor a privy, nor a seal.
    Thanks, Brummie and manehi.

  9. There were a lot of physical activities such as HEARING, RESPOND, SKIP, STRUT, SEAL, FRIGHTEN, POINT,(ER), WRITING, DECK, PREPARE(D), INVEST, SPEECH, REACH and dare I say it like Sagittarius @5, POOP and PEE. Just a thought.

  10. Good puzzle. I have a question though. What’s the ‘failing’ doing in 10a EMPTINESS? The word is usually a negation instruction (as it is in 7a). What am I missing?

  12. muffin @11 – ah that makes sense now… the blog says “produced by” is the anagram indicator, but now that seems to be a simple linking phrase.

    Cheers!

  14. Yes Sagittarius. Looks like you’re on to something there. And ONES as in number ones and number twos. I don’t know if that translates but child language here anyway. Void in the clue for EMPTINESS?

  17. When my first one in was POOP DECK I had to check that the setter wasn’t Boatman this morning. Thereafter a bit of a bumpy ride, caused by my imagining that 11d had to be Fractures or Fragments as cracks , being beguiled by the FRench part of the clue. By far and away COTD for me was LORD PRIVY SEAL. But there were several other great candidates. And the Marsh part of 18ac made me wonder for a while if Ngaio might be part of some kind of initial anagrind. An excellent challenge on a Monday, I thought…

  18. Not really entry level, although a newbie could probably complete 2/3, which would have left me feeling good. I remember being unable to enter a single answer in some Auracaria puzzles when I started doing them.

  19. I liked all of this (I even remembered Pik Botha and briefly toyed with INTENT before getting INVEST). A welcome change from the usual Vulcan, which generally don’t much enjoy, though a tad harder than typical Mondays.

  20. I got rather stuck in the NE quadrant but eventually it all came together.

    I liked the RE S POND, the surface for EMPTINESS, the well-hidden PERSONNEL, and the PRE-PARED and IN VEST.

    Thanks Brummie and manehi.

  24. Yes, PERSONNEL was nicely hidden – I was trying to make it be COLUMNIST for quite a while. Didn’t know Pik Botha. I liked PRE-PARED, GERUND and SOLIDITY.

  25. After a first pass through the across clues I had precisely one solved, and not much better on the downs. Then I found my stride and eventually finished at a gallop. Thank you Brummie.

    I wrote in 21A without fully parsing it, trying to make something out of an anagram of NELSON and some other bits, and completely missed the answer in black and white. Thank you manehi.

  26. Didn’t feel at all like a Monday, but it was a nice chewy puzzle. I’m not sure if ‘produced by’ or ‘failing’ is supposed to be the anagrind in EMPTINESS, or both? But that seems redundant. Perhaps ‘from’ instead of ‘produced by’ or ‘taking’ instead of ‘failing to take’ would have been neater. Just about remembered Pik Botha from my Anti-Nazi League days. Didn’t know PERPIGNAN but spotted the likely once a few crossers were in. LOI was RANCHERO, another new word for me. Thanks Brummie and Manehi.

  27. Having had a good week of solves I thought a nice Monday crossword to start me off….. Tough, not my wavelength, need more sleep. All fair in hindsight and many good (too many to mention really!)

  28. I think the anagrind in PERPIGNAN is ‘over’. If it were ‘cracks’ then ‘over’=O would have to be part of the anagrist, wouldn’t it? (My initial thought was exactly that, but Perpignon is wrong!) So the N of ‘new’ is inserted in (‘cracks’) PERPIG_AN.

    I had never really thought about the title LORD PRIVY SEAL, but picking it apart, it would appear to be the role of someone close to the monarch whose job was to unplug the seal on the privy prior to a POOP and sealing it after EMPTINESS had been achieved. Clearly a very well paid job.

    Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  30. SH @28
    I see what you mean. It took the “over” to mean that the N from “new” was the bottom letter, but then the anagram indicator is in the wrong place. However if that is the case, what is the “cracks” doing?
    It doesn’t read sensibly, but the order should be more like “French city cracks papering over new”

  31. Muffin @30. I think ‘cracks’ means that the N cracks open the fodder after it’s been rearranged and then inserts itself. Quite a lot of work for such a small element, but it makes the parts appear in a logical sequence. Whereas ‘cracks’ at the end is clearly in the wrong place to work as an anagrind, as you seem to agree.

  32. SH @31
    So the N from “new” isn’t the bottom one, then? I think that works. He could have come up with a more elegant clue, though, I would have thought.

  33. Muffin @32. I don’t see how ‘new’ can mean “N at the end” when ‘cracks’ is the last word of the clue. Either the N is in the fodder (in which case what does ‘over’ mean?) or it’s inserted after anagramatisation. It could be ‘papering’ with ‘new’ inserted and then cracked, but that seems unnecessarily convoluted (especially for a Monday).

  34. As several other found, just one in (POOP DECK) on first run through. Being Brummie, I had psyched myself into thinking it was going to be hard, but I quickly found this was not the case and the rest flowed fairly steadily.

    Thanks both.

  35. WBE @21 – thanks for the cartoons!

    The gerundive only really exists in Latin (Chambers: ‘a Latin verbal adjective expressing necessity’). The name Amanda literally means ‘requiring to be loved / lovable’ and Miranda (‘to be wondered at’). Agenda (neuter plural) means ‘things to be done’, etc …
    Our Latin mistress at school made up the mnemonic, ‘The gerundive is an adjective that sounds like the passive infinitive (i.e. ‘to be …’)

    I had ticks for EMPTINESS, LORD PRIVY SEAL, WRITING, PERPIGNAN and GERUND! I thought the surfaces were exceptionally good for Brummie!

    Thanks to setter and blogger.

  39. I think ONES would have worked without “regularly”, it’s just there to mislead you into looking for an alternate-letters answer.

  40. High-quality stuff from Brummie. Having misplaced my thinking cap I stumbled into every trap he laid

    I just assumed “papering” went either above or around the N with the result being cracked

    Top ticks for SYLPH, GERUND and PREPARED

    Cheers B&am

  43. Bodycheetah, Sheffield Hatter. Roz
    I had the same problem with Perpignan and I live there.
    The clue is a good description of Perpignan, 2 years with very little rain is causing lots of cracks and the local administration can only paper over the problems.

  44. Mostly a write-in, but a very enjoyable one. I did have to verify Perpignan via Google (never heard of it I’m afraid). Last one in was 6 dn. – I absolutely could not parse it though!
    Thanks Brummie and manehi.

  45. @41 and 42
    Has Latin evolved since I was at school? It was my best subject for the two years I took it, but I remember being taught that the verb comes at the end. I covered a Latin lesson when I was teaching, and idly looked at their textbook. The very first Latin sentence in the book – Cerberus est canis – would have been marked wrong in my school in1963!

  46. Late to the party today. Good puzzle, rather tricky for a Monday as others have remarked. I liked the clues that have already been noted, but an extra nod to PREPARED and INVEST, which both raised smiles.

    The GERUND in English has merged with the present participle, so some modern grammarians don’t consider it a separate verb form. ‘Seeing is believing’ is traditionally considered to be a usage of gerunds because the words are nounal, whereas ‘he went away singing’ is a verbal usage, so ‘singing’ is not considered a gerund. In Italian, the gerund is distinct from the present participle, but is used verbally: ‘he went away singing’ would be ‘se n’è andato cantando’; ‘The Singing Detective’ would be ‘L’Investigatore Cantante’, with a participle. And where English might use a gerund, Italian uses the infinitive (as indeed we can alternatively in English).

    As for the gerundive, this has disappeared in Italian. My favourite Latin tag with a gerundive – and a past participle in the ablative absolute 🙂 – is ‘mutatis mutandis’: ‘having changed what is to be changed’, ie ‘with the necessary changes’. I once went to a talk given by the author Iris Murdoch and she used the expression three times….

    Thanks to S&B

  47. Muffin @45: you are right that a Latin verb will often be found at the end of a sentence, but because Latin is a highly inflected language you can often juggle the word to change the emphasis without altering the core meaning, and writers do. So “Puer puellam amat” means “the boy loves the girl”, but “Puellam puer amat” means the just same, as does “Amat puellam puer”. The endings of the words (ie their “cases”) tell the reader what’s going on., and the order then implies what may be interesting or surprising here – eg that it is a girl that the boy loves, when one might have expected something different. But – to get really pedantic- the phrase attributed to Cato about the destruction of Carthage is never directly quoted by an ancient author (they report that “Cato said Carthage should be destroyed”, in indirect speech), and “Delenda est Cathago”, in those precise words, was first recorded as being said in Parliament by a late 17th century politician, the Earl of Shaftesbury. For him at least, it was the destruction bit that he wanted to stress. But I’ve strayed much too far from the crossword, for which thanks to Brummie.

  48. [Well I only did two years, Sagittarius – 99% then 98%. I saw the trend and gave it up in favour of Chemistry!]

  49. A fine entertainment so thanks both.

    I’ve often wondered what a gerundive might be and now I know I need wonder no longer – I will clearly never understand it. (To be honest it’s some considerable time since I last wondered.)

    PREPARED reminded me of the boy scout’s pencil…..

  50. On first read through I could only put in dirt but then I decided to persevere and finished it. LOI was 6D but only because I figured that ones were units. Didn’t think of E for ecstasy. Thanks setter and blogger.

  51. Well…

    I have nothing so far after 4 sittings at this, and I may well raise the white flag.

    I think the last 3 letters of 7a are ‘ING’.

    I think E and B are involved in 10a.

    Is this a difficult crossword?

  53. muffin but surely your Latin was an advantage in chemistry? Put those together with a dash of fun and you’re in the top echelon of cryptic solvers.

  54. [paddymelon @53
    Latin didn’t help much with chemistry; fortunately I was just young enough not to have to learn German in order to study it!]

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