Guardian Cryptic 29,265 by Tramp

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29265.

As often with Tramp, care must be taken with definitions, which generally pan out even if they do not seem to at first. We have a couple of variations on Mary Jane, in 5A and 18D, and two usages which I think are still primarily American (RUBBER in 15A and ‘can’ in 23D) but not announced as such, which rubs some people up the wrong way.

ACROSS
1 EXHIBIT
Walk out hosting Good Morning Britain show (7)
An envelope (‘hosting’) of HI (‘good morning’) plus B (‘Britain’) in EXIT (‘walk out’).
5 SPLIFF
Sun protection factor over 50 if one gets burnt (6)
An envelope (‘over’) of L (Roman numeral, ’50’) plus ‘if’ in SPF (‘Sun Protection Factor’ – a standard abbreviation).
9 SPRINTER
One runs with scoop, originally going to press (8)
A charade of S (‘Scoop originally’) plus PRINTER (‘press’ – a printing press).
10 RADIAL
Road regularly cut off by phone: on a line to centre? (6)
A charade of RA (‘RoAd regularly cut off’) plus DIAL (‘phone’ the verb persists even if the dial itself does not).
12 MIDDLEWEIGHT
Fighter did me with leg moves (12)
An anagram (‘moves’) of ‘did me with leg’.
15 FOAM RUBBER
Fellow with protection bored by love in the morning: it might be soft in bed (4,6)
An envelope (‘bored by’) of O (‘love’) plus AM (‘in the morning’) in F (‘fellow’) plus RUBBER (‘protection’ – a condom, principally US, I think).
17 UMP
Informal judge with money, winning cases (3)
An envelope (yes, with three letters, ‘cases’) of M (‘money’) in UP (‘winning’).
19 EKE
Section lifted from weekend supplement (3)
A hidden answer (‘section lifted from’) in ‘weEKEnd’.
20 GIVE OR TAKE
About to present gold prize, ignoring second (4,2,4)
A charade of GIVE (‘present’) plus OR (heraldic ‘gold’) plus [s]TAKE (‘prize’) minus the S (‘ignoring second’).
22 THOROUGHBRED
Sweeping floor around back of larder having quality in stock (12)
An envelope (‘around’) of R (‘back of lardeR‘) in THOROUGH (‘sweeping’) plus BED (‘floor’ – e.g. of sea)..
26 SOD ALL
Drink for American; two litres is nothing (3,3)
A charade of SODA (‘drink for American’) plus LL (‘two litres’).
27 LOVE LIFE
Pointless biography revealing intimate details (4,4)
A charade of LOVE (‘pointless’) plus LIFE (‘biography’).
28 EGRETS
Do they have high bills? Energy comes down with provider finally making cut (6)
An envelope (‘making cut’) of R (‘provideR finally’) in E (‘energy’) plus GETS (‘comes down with’ e.g. COVID).
29 MANHOOD
Feeling to restrict one husband’s virility (7)
An envelope (‘to restrict’) of AN H (‘one husband’) in MOOD (‘feeling’).
DOWN
1 EASY
European, say, travelling with freedom of movement (4)
A charade of E (‘European’) plus ASY, an anagram (‘travelling’) of ‘say’.
2 HORN
What sheep might have sheared off top (4)
A subtraction: [s]HORN (‘sheared’) minus the first letter (‘off top’).
3 BANDITRY
Criminal activity in bar: detective shot (8)
A charade of BAN (‘bar’) plus DI (‘detective’ inspector) plus TRY (‘shot’).
4 TREAD
Time to show Tramp (5)
A charade of T (‘time’) plus READ (‘show’ “this dial reads the engine temperature”).
6 PLAYER
Musician’s piano course (6)
A charade of P (‘piano’) plus LAYER (‘course’).
7 ICING SUGAR
Fine powder causing rig to explode (5,5)
An anagram (‘to explode’) of ‘causing rig’.
8 FELT-TIP PEN
Did handle fold under top drawer? (4-3,3)
A charade of FELT (‘did handle’ – touched with a hand) plus TIP (‘top’) plus PEN (‘fold’ e.g. for sheep).
11 RED-EYE
Aperture set below light to stop effect from flash (3-3)
A charade of RED (traffic ‘light to stop’) plus EYE (‘aperture’).
13 AFTERTASTE
A street fighter, primarily at scuffles, sustained smack in the mouth? (10)
An anagram (‘scuffles’) of ‘a street’ plus F (‘Fighter primarily’) plus ‘at’.
14 FACE POWDER
Look towards rule to control depth for foundation (4,6)
An envelope (‘to control’) of D (‘depth’) in FACE (‘look towards’) plus POWER (‘rule’).
16 BRIDGE
Go over game (6)
Double definition.
18 TREE FERN
A form of weed inside thin, drained plant (4,4)
An envelope (‘inside’) of REEFER (‘a form of weed’ – marijuana) in TN (‘ThiN drained’).
21 GOBLET
Leave sandwich to drink last drop of coffee in cup (6)
An envelope (‘to drink’) of E (‘last drop of coffeE‘) in GO (‘leave’) plus BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato ‘sandwich’).
23 BLOOM
Bee can move to open flower (5)
A charade of B (‘bee’) plus LOO (‘can’) plus M (‘Move to open’).
24 BIRO
Pen memoirs about king (4)
An envelope (‘about’) of R (‘king’) in BIO (‘memoirs’ – really autobiography)
25 BEND
Kinky thing with bachelor getting close (4)
A charade of B (‘bachelor’) plus END (‘close’).

picture of the completed grid

93 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,265 by Tramp”

  1. Rubber for condom has been around for yonks (common enough to appear in a schoolboy version of The Old Grey Mare).
    Nice puzzle thanks Tramp, don’t mind the odd spliff or reefer 😉 . SW last to fall, needing a bit of check-a-letter to get thoroughbred and wind it up to get back to the cricket. [Rooting for the Pakistanis to make it 1-all to keep the series alive]
    And thanks Peter.

  2. Can is only shown as “slang” in Chambers with no geographical indicator. Rubber is “chiefly N American” so I guess the ‘chiefly’ gets Tramp off the hook. I can remember condoms being called rubber johnnies in the UK years ago.

  3. Nice puzzle, LOVE LIFE and SOD ALL stood out for me.

    I hesitated over a couple: a sheep might have a horn, or horns, but HORN? A kinky thing is a thing with kinks, not the kink (BEND) itself. But nothing else fit, and after reconsidering, decided they’re close enough.

    Those unfamiliar with US regionalisms might not know that SODA is not used universally for sweet fizzy drinks. In some places it is pop, and in others coke. Yes that’s right, the brand name has there become generic, much like hoover for others.

    Thanks T&P

  6. gif@1. You made me laugh. We must be of a certain age. And just as rubbers don’t translate, I’ll bet you were aware that ”rooting” doesn’t either. 🙂

  9. I thought I was onto a theme here, but it was not to be. I was baffled by FELT-TIP PEN, so thanks for the explanation. Liked TREE FERN, and the surface for AFTERTASTE.

  10. thanks PeterO! But speaking of Tramp, I keep on wondering about the rules of capitalization — I thought that a “misleading” capital was only allowed at the beginning of a sentence? has that boat sailed? What do we make of 4d?

  11. I had to think hard about some of the definitions, they tended to be harder than the wordplay, I enjoyed this favourite was SOD ALL. A couple of Koreans sat down at my local in Hoi An and ordered a soda 2 glasses and ice, so Huong opened a can of soda water, poured some into 2 gasees and presented it to them. That’s not soda they said. Yes it is said Huong ( we have 2 non-english speakers using it to communicate) so Huong took one of them to the fridge and he picked out a Coke. Any comments Doc Whatson?

  12. I needed all the crossers for 15 before remembering that RUBBER could mean protection, but it’s familiar enough in the UK these days (I remember a Jasper Carrot routine about needing an eraser in the US). Generally found this tough, with Tramp channelling his ‘Paul’ side. Took me a while to convince myself that 5 and 26 actually were the answers. Liked 3 and 14. Thanks to Tramp and PeterO

  13. IC @10 – I thought the rule was that you could put in misleading capitals (as with Jack’s brilliant cluing of AUTOPILOT as “George Best estate has raised a fortune (9)” yesterday, where “George” was the definition and the upper two thirds of the wordplay was UTOPIA (best estate) with the A raised) but that if a word properly required an initial capital, you were not allowed to leave it out.
    I thought the definition for EGRETS was a bit iffy, but otherwise this was a most enjoyable puzzle. Don’t mind being reminded of my mis-spent youth – TREE FERN was clever. And AFTERTASTE was very clever indeed. The anagram for MIDDLEWEIGHT is a good spot, too.
    The surface for ICING SUGAR is even cleverer than it looks. Because it is a fine powder of an inflammable substance, in the right conditions icing sugar can indeed explode (as with an explosion in 2003 at British Sugar’s plant at Cantley).
    Thanks, both.

  17. [Well! Thank you so much for that clip, pdm. And what a number! Which, btw, I have no memory of. What I do remember is the ease, the total lack of heat, no searches, no glowering security gorillas. We arrived early, picnic rug on the grass, eveyone laid back and groovy. Then the Floyd floating and weaving through us all (etc 🙂 )]

  18. I thought I was looking for a tall duck at first but, to my surprise, Chambers has bill and beak as synonyms. So EGRETS was fine for me. I am another who liked TREE FERN

  19. Thanks Tramp and PeterO
    A couple of loose equivalences – I agree GDU about show/read, and rule/power in 14d.
    Favourites TREE FERN and GOBLET.

  20. With smack and weed in the surfaces and SPLIFF and REEFER amongst the solutions, I did wonder if there was a theme but I suspect it’s coincidence. I found this hard to complete with the SW holding out the longest and FACE POWDER defeating me. I didn’t crack TREAD either: it had to be that for the def but I did not equate show with READ. A slight raise of the eyebrow with memoirs = BIO: I feel the first is produced by the individual in question but the second is written about them by someone else but that just might be my take.

    Thanks Tramp and PeterO

  21. I agree with the ‘nice puzzle’, gif @1 and DWO @3 – and with NeilH @13 re capitalisation (although I could have done without the reminder of my failed parsing of AUTOPILOT, which still hurts).

    I enjoyed this and had ticks for EXHIBIT, SOD ALL, BANDITRY, AFTERTASTE and GOBLET.
    My tiny niggle re 14dn is that FACE POWDER isn’t foundation.

    Many thanks to Tramp and PeterO.

  22. I’m always chuffed to bits when I manage to complete a Tramp oeuvre without too much agonising and although I’m aware that it means this must be an easier one, I’m still happy.
    I knew that meaning of RUBBER but originally had FOAM PILLOW (well it had to be foam, and what else would a bed have?). The crossers put me straight and besides, I was having trouble imagining how much protection a pillow would provide.
    BIRO was neat and I got it shortly after FELT TIP PEN – which had me looking for Pencil, Quill, etc, etc for a while…
    SOD ALL, BLOOM, HORN & SPLIFF made me grin.
    My only quibble, and it’s a tiny one, is BEND described as “kinky thing”. Really?? (By then, already having the rubber, LOVE LIFE, HORN and the various joints, I was off on a decidedly seedy wild goose chase…. Hey ho)
    Many thanks to PeterO for the blog, and to Tramp for the fun.

  24. [IC @10: just to add to NeilH’s comment @13, I think the ‘misleading capital’ at the beginning of the clue to which you refer is the hiding of the fact that a proper noun has been decapitalised by putting it first so it is capitalised but for another reason. If I want to use Bond as in James – say as my DBE for ‘agent’ – it would be unfair if I used it decapitalised to mean tie, cement or promise in the surface. A man providing bond? (5) for example However, I can use it to mean those things if it is the first word in the clue where it will be capitalised anyway. Bond, perhaps, advanced by man (5) for example. Hope that makes sense.]

  25. I found this tricky, but battled it out, with ‘reefer’ in TREE FERN a lovely PDM that helped me finish.

    No problem with read/show: the meters read/show an unhappily large number. My only eyebrow – which I don’t think has been mentioned – is ‘pointless’ for ‘love’. Love is nil, but I can’t think of a way it would quite mean ‘without points’.

    MIDDLEWEIGHT was a nice anagram, and the use of Good Morning Britain was very good.

    Thanks PeterO and Tramp.

  27. I found this fairly tricky but very satisfying, with some clever disguised definitions and some superb surfaces.

    EXHIBIT, SPLIFF, ICING SUGAR, AFTERTASTE and TREE FERN were the standouts for me, but I had no quibbles about any of the clues (my cosmetic GK is scantier than Eileen’s 🙂 ).

    I agree with NeilH @13 about the convention regarding capitalisation. A proper noun used deceptively as a common noun has to be put first, according to this rule, in order to preserve the initial upper case letter. But a common noun can be give a misleading capital letter anywhere in the clue.

    Thanks to Tramp and PeterO

  30. A slow start, then some progress but badly held up in the SW. All in all a good puzzle albeit with a high number of quibbles. Thanks Tramp and Eileen.

  31. Like Wellbeck, I was chasing themes with the drugs plus MANHOOD, LOVE LIFE, HORN and (FOAM) RUBBER but then I also linked RUBBER to tyres along with TREAD and RADIAL and also to BRIDGE and PLAYER, so just confused myself in the end. Very enjoyable, clever puzzle which left a lovely AFTERTASTE.

    Ta Tramp & PeterO.

  32. Soundly defeated by this today, though thought I was on a high for a while with SPLIFF and Reefer being part of the clueing for 18d. However, couldn’t find my way past the FOAM RUBBER, which would have provided a way into the SW part of the puzzle…

  35. Did not finish because I like Eileen haven’t used face powder since about 1973?
    But otherwise a great puzzle, if slow to start. Good to hear from Tramp and to learn that it’s an old one, dragged out from the archives by the editor (at least I like the possible imagery!). Parsing from Eileen and others was a delight. Thanks everyone

  36. I smiled a lot as this puzzle unfolded bit by bit, with Tramp in top form while being slightly risqué and edgy. I also really enjoyed the embedded clips and banter from fellow solvers on this blog. Seems some of us recalled our misspent youth at times as we solved today.
    All my favourites have already been mentioned.
    Thanks so much Tramp and PeterO.

  40. Thanks for the blog and all the others this year , I did not find this bitty at all , good clues throughout with neat wordplay.
    Agree with TimC@2 – the Johnny bit seems to have died out leaving the rubber, although condom seems to have taken over since all the health advice to do with AIDS .
    For capitals I think MrPostMark @24 explains it very well but there are no rules, setters can do wharever they like. Personally I do not like the use/non-use of capitals in either case but I do like the fake hidden capital at the front.

  41. [ AlanC @31 back with multiple themelets , no doubt another successful secret Special Branch mission completed with a cover story of a holiday somewhere exotic with a golf course. I was Number 1 today in the FT so now 67-44. I acn safely retire at the top. ]

  42. Liked 1d – EASY – “European, say, travelling with freedom of movement (4)” – because it’s still true for my family, even after the B-word.
    And 28a – Great EGRETS have long necks, so “they Do have high bills”

  44. [Roz @41: I wish, man flu did for me over Xmas. I did the xwords but was too weak to post anything 🙂 Thanks for the banter in 2023 and congratulations. KPR in for another humiliation this evening].

  45. Apologies if I have missed a comment on this. I read 10 across as RoAd regularly, cut off by phone as DI (sounds like die), on a line AL. Otherwise too much of the clue appears redundant.

  46. Whoops. Just realised that would mean “a line” was doing double duty. So ignore the above. Trying to be too clever.

  47. Amoeba @25
    Meters show numbers, but it’s you who reads them.
    (Reminiscent of the erudite discussion on “abandoned” on the General Discussion thread.)

  48. Amoeba @25
    You seem to have answered your own question about 27A LOVE LIFE. In a game of tennis, a score of, say, 40-love means that one player has no points.

  49. muffin @47: I agree with Amoeba @25 – ‘read’ can be used, and hence interpreted, ergatively: ‘The thermometer reads 38°’, which is the same as ‘the thermometer shows…’

  51. Thanks Tramp and PeterO

    Re the never-ending discussions on whether two words a setter has used are precise equivalents, there was a good comment on a recent Times puzzle: “crosswords track usage, not meaning”. Seems fair to me.

  52. Thanks Tramp. I found this challenging, especially the SW corner, and I eventually revealed a few. I enjoyed many of the clues including FOAM RUBBER, UMP, BANDITRY, ICING SUGAR (great anagram and surface), and FACE POWDER. [I know little about make-up and I often wondered why so many women feel compelled to use it while men get off scot-free.] As far as course being “layer” and show being “read” I have learned that lists of synonyms are more extensive than you think; choosing one “further down the list” can add to the complexity of the clue. I generally feel that setters have done their homework in this area. Thanks PeterO for the blog.

  53. I found this quite hard going. Probably my worst peformance in several weeks, with six left to fill in. All fair I think (?), but just not quite my wavelength (unlike, say, Jack yesterday). I especially liked SOD ALL, FOAM RUBBER , and FACE POWDER. With thanks to Tramp and PeterO.

  54. A bit of a struggle today but managed to complete it with one reveal for FACE POWDER…Nice puzzle with fair clues. Thank you Tramp and PeterO.

  55. Following on to DrW’s comment @3: the fizzy drink was originally called soda pop. It gradually got shortened, but some parts of the country kept the first word, and some kept the second. I grew up calling it a soft drink, which is common in a few areas.

    Back to the clue for SOD ALL: interestingly, bottled beverages (other than milk and beer) are among the few things in America that are metric–sold by the liter. The standard large size (intended to last several days) is a two-liter bottle, so the clue’s surface reading works. (Milk is still sold in quarts and gallons; bottled beer is denominated in ounces.)

  56. You are wrong, muffin. To read can mean to indicate. I’ll hold my hands up when I make a mistake; as I did in an earlier post with foundation. But, I’m not wrong on this one.
    Neil

  59. I enjoyed that and was glad for the blog (BLOOM). That FACE POWDER defeated me has me reaching for the blusher (can that be right?).

    Gif@57: See Amoeba@25?

  62. { AlanC@44 hope you feel better now, my victory shows the benefit of being law-abiding. Without your numerous transgressions you would have won easily. At the end of term my students said KPR were doing better with their new manager ?? ]

  63. Chambers has “indicate” as a synonym for READ so SHOW seems fair enough and we’ve already had examples

    To “smoke trees” is slang for smoking weed so there’s another, possibly unintentional, weed reference

    Not sure about all these supposed “rules” about punctuation / capitalisation – best just to completely ignore it in my experience of the Guardian

    Cheers P&T

  64. Yep Aplphalpha @59, either a plural subject (meters) or a tense indicator (will, or maybe did), will do the job …

  65. Got there in the end, and enjoyed MIDDLEWEIGHT and EASY the most. I still don’t like clues like ‘bee’ and ‘money’ to indicate b and m (but ‘fighter primarily’ for f is both fine and better than fine). Thanks Tramp and PeterO

  68. Thanks croc!
    Tramp @56
    As a retired teacher, I rage against the degrading of language. Meters cannot read, but they can be read.

  69. muffin @68 as Beowulf might have said: “Hear me, thane of tongues, though my words hold both assent and dissent, like woven tapestries of sun and shadow. Yea, some truth thy words doth bear, as whispers of the past do echo in the halls of now. Yet, hark! Should the mighty stream of language cease its flow, stagnating in the mire of unchanging speech, then would we be naught but thralls to grunts and gestures, our minds trapped in the echoes of our ancestors’ caves. No, the tongue must be a living warrior, ever honing its blade against the anvil of change, forging new words to pierce the veil of the unknown, and singing songs of wisdom yet unheard. Thus, let us embrace the dance of evolution, lest our thoughts be forever shackled to the whispers of bygone days.” 🙂

  70. As another retired teacher, I fully accept that languages evolve, that usage is what matters – and that it is far to easy to fall into the grumpy old bloke category 😉 . Mind you, I am still repelled by “grow the economy”…

  72. I’m fascinated by the read/show discussion… especially by the odd certainty on display.

    muffin @68 read the opening paragraph in this article.

    “… makes it somehow unlikely that she’d tell me about a twee sign in a bakery near where she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass,” the sign reads, “it’s about learning to dance in the rain.””

    Or read this article from an energy supplier on how to read your meter:

    “ In this example, the meter reads 00014”

    You’re not honestly pretending you don’t understand either of these examples or that you’ve never seen the like before are you?

    I understand that it’s nobody’s first thought when it comes to the word that but I’d expect a retired teacher to at least have the curiosity to pause, think, and maybe look it up before starting a post decrying the degradation of language and starting with the phrase “as a retired teacher”!

    The 6th definition given by Collins, says: “You can use read when saying what is written on something or in something. For example, if a notice reads ‘ Entrance’, the word ‘Entrance’ is written on it.

    That’s not a remotely obscure use of the word. You’ve seen it many times and always understood it.

    It’s not like you to be so certain about something, muffin.

    Meters can read. Signs can read. T-shirts can read. Etc etc etc. And in that sense – they all show, too.

  74. muffin is currently holed up in his broom cupboard, trying to work out if his electricity meter still reads 74,529 if he looks away from it.

  75. I’m sorry, you are all missing the point. You can find lots of references of “read” used to mean “show”, but they are all wrong!

  77. It would be interesting to hear an account of “meaning” that supports the contention that word meanings are fixed in such a way that a word can be widely used and understood, but still not mean what those people take it to mean. What are the criteria that fix word meanings in such a way?

  78. A late reply, but PeterO @48 – if you have no points in tennis you could be described as pointless(!), but that doesn’t mean you are love, and if you lose a set 6 to love you lose six to nil, not six to pointless. There is of course a relationship, but I can’t find a way they quite substitute.

    muffin @47 and elsewhere – a meter can read something. You might not like that one can, but one can. As well as the examples given, the references are firmly on Tramp’s side:

    Collins: meaning 13 [transitive] register, indicate, or show: the meter reads 100

    Chambers: meaning 10 – to register, indicate

    Chambers Thesaurus: meaning 4 – the gauge read zero
    indicate, show, display, register, record, measure

  80. muffin @68:

    The English language that you taught, before retirement, got that way as a result of countless degradations over the course of centuries. Do you rage against those degradations, too, or only the ones that took place after you arrived on this planet?

  81. Amoeba @78
    How about: “I once knocked a few balls with Roger Federer, and would you believe my result was a love/pointless game.”?

  82. [PeterO @81: To some, love is pointless; to others it is a wild vole; and finally it can be seen as primarily life offering voluptuous experiences.]

  84. A seismograph will read the lag time between the P and S waves, Using three seismographs you can find the epicentre.

  86. Couldn’t finish this one and thought the comments were more enjoyable than the puzzle. Thanks everyone.

  87. Thanks Tramp and PeterO. Good stuff.

    I guess many (most?) of us have pet hates as language adapts. Personally, “uni” and “relatable” still make me cringe. Does that make me a language umpire with the UMP?

  89. Oakvillerreader: better luck next time. It’s good to see new names on the site. Try to stick around: most newcomers pop in and then disappear.

  90. TassieTim @71

    That reminds of of Bill Bailey’s comment about Australian staff taking orders and then saying “too easy”. He wondered if he should try and make it harder for them.

  91. I found this very hard (6/12 into crosswords learning) – only got about 1/3 unaided as still not familiar with lots of the terms used to signify types of wordplay, but I did get tree fern and was very pleased with myself. Enjoyed reading the parsing (and the comments, haha!)

  92. SimonS@66 – oh, I know that all these single letters for words can be legitimised one way or another. I was simply making the point that I don’t like them.

  93. Eventually finished this morning after starting Friday and getting SOD ALL. Got an average of about seven answers per day, probably one of my slowest ever solved. I was idly thinking of all the words Tramp could have used in 14d (I think GAZE YONDER was my favourite) when the correct answer suddenly popped into my head for my last one in.

    I’ve never been quite so engage/occupied/amused by a crossword. And I have no quibbles whatsoever with any of the definitions or wordplay – not even foundation. I enjoyed Van Winkle’s broom cupboard @74 too!

    Thanks (finally 🙂 ) to Tramp and PeterO.

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