Guardian 29,271 / Picaroon

by

Tomorrow it will be exactly six months since my last blog of a Picaroon puzzle: I was beginning to lose hope!

Nothing too tricky this morning but plenty of the usual wit and misdirection, with ingenious cluing and smooth, story-telling surfaces. My particular favourites were 5ac ABSEIL, for the definition, 18ac RAS TAFARI, for the construction, 24ac MITTEN, for the misdirection, 1ac INTERIMS and 4dn MELODRAMATIC, for the clever anagrams and 1dn INCENDIARY, 17ac ANKLEBONE, 6dn BLACK BELT, 11dn PEAK DISTRICT and 22dn SMUT, all for construction and surface.

Many thanks to Picaroon for the fun.

Definitions are underlined in the clues.

 

Across

1 Foreign minister’s transition periods (8)
INTERIMS
An anagram (foreign) of MINISTER

5 Off-peak drop in crew members vehicle oddly ignored (6)
ABSEIL
ABS (sailors – crew members) + even letters of [v]E[h]I[c]L[e]

9 Spicy pepper in pan in South American country (8)
CHIPOTLE
POT (pan) in CHILE (South American country)

10 What street vendor might use in pub altercation (6)
BARROW
BAR (pub) + ROW (altercation)

12 Tied down repeatedly (4,3,4)
NECK AND NECK
NECK (to down = drink) repeatedly

15 Cake-maker, say, drinking one more bitter (5)
ICIER
ICER (cake maker, say) round I (one)

17 Bit of a joint bloke’s rolling inhaled by queen (9)
ANKLEBONE
An anagram (rolling) of BLOKE in ANNE (queen)

18 Revered African, saving time, runs a trip in Africa? (3,6)
RAS TAFARI
R (runs) + A + SAFARI (trip in Africa) round T (time)

19 Cycling around Asian city, or the local capital (5)
TOKYO
If we ‘cycle’ the letters of KYOTO (Asian city) we get TOKYO

20 The urban area here contains light Scottish flora (11)
THISTLEDOWN
THIS TOWN (the urban area here) round LED (light)

24 Cambridge University figure’s winter warmer (6)
MITTEN
MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology – University in Cambridge, USA) + TEN (figure)

25 Drunken idiot receiving Murray’s first service (4,4)
HIGH MASS
HIGH (drunken) + ASS (idiot) round M[urray]

26 Peer around Eastbourne, not content to drive (3,3)
TEE OFF
TOFF (peer) round E[astbourn]E, minus its content

27 Papers about case of turpitude judge went over again (8)
ITERATED
ID (papers) round T[urpitud]E + RATE (judge)

 

Down

1 Playing nice new record, ‘Firestarter‘ (10)
INCENDIARY
An anagram (playing) of NICE + N (new) + DIARY (record) – I was impressed to discover that ‘Firestarter’ is a record

2 Least cool women’s smallest clothes (10)
TWITCHIEST
TITCHIEST (smallest) round (clothes) W (women)

3 Red has drink during revolutionary song (5)
RIOJA
OJ (orange juice – drink) in a reversal (revolutionary) of AIR (song)

4 Weirdly calm mediator, with emotions running high (12)
MELODRAMATIC
An anagram (weirdly) of CALM MEDIATOR

6 Want to break boxer’s nose with hit, which shows a good fighter (5,4)
BLACK BELT
LACK (want) in first letter (nose) of B[oxer] + BELT (hit)

7 Make tea or coffee in this, we hear (4)
EARN
Sounds like ‘urn’, which could contain tea or coffee

8 Dirty residence half scrubbed up (4)
LEWD
A reversal (up, in a down clue) of DWEL[ling] (residence, half scrubbed)

11 This area’s for walking dog, said policeman brooking no nonsense (4,8)
PEAK DISTRICT
PEAK (sounds like – said – ‘peke’, dog) + Detective Inspector (policeman) + STRICT (brooking no nonsense) – the UK’s first National Park 

13 Exquisite items from factory with zero emission of gas (5,2,3)
WORKS OF ART
WORKS (factory) + O (zero) + FART (emission of gas)

14 Distinguished company sing about earl, boring King Edward (10)
RECOGNISED
CO (company) + a reversal (about) of SING + E (earl) in R (king) ED[ward]

16 Like filling tripe and grouse cut on a Sunday? (5,4)
ROAST BEEF
AS (like) in ROT (tripe) + BEEF (grouse)

21 What could put you under intensive therapy, in part (5)
ETHER
Contained in intensivE THERapy

22 Business’s ending belly up, getting black mark (4)
SMUT
[busines]S + a reversal (up, in a down clue) of TUM (belly)

23 Way to disregard liberal viewer’s complaint (4)
STYE
STY[l]E (way) minus l (liberal)

60 comments on “Guardian 29,271 / Picaroon”

  3. Thanks Picaroon and Eileen
    Quite straightforward. Favourites FOI ABSEIL and ANKLEBONE.
    Not keen on the clue for TOKYO – it’s a bit loose, and also ambiguous without the crossers.

  4. Thank you, Eileen, pleasant task for you, today.

    Another cracker from my favourite setter. Ticks everywhere but NECK AND NECK, PEAK DISTRICT, & WORKS OF ART sharing best in show.

    Not sure about THISTLEDOWN as “Scottish flora”. I thought this was just the seed-bearing fluffy stuff, but no doubt someone will enlighten me.

    My heart usually sinks on seeing the word ‘cycling’ in a clue, since it can mean so many things, but TOKYO fell out readily for once.

    The Pirate has certainly mastered the setter’s art of hiding the def. Bravo.

    Many thanks, both

  7. Wow! Finished another Picaroon.

    Had my doubts about THISTLEDOWN as William did, but the rest of the crossword I enjoyed.

    Thanks for the blog, Eileen, particularly for the link to RAS – I hadn’t realised this was two separate words, only ever having seen Rastafarian.

    Thanks to P too

  9. I couldn’t work out why neck was equal to down in NECK AND NECK so many thanks Eileen.
    I wonder whether Roz will have a Paddington stare at TOKYO, although it is a cycle, not an anagram.

  10. That was beaut, ta PnE, but a 7-decade old memory of having been anaesthetised with ether still elicits a faint shudder … I can still smell it and feel the nausea. Not a grumble, the puzzle was a pleasure.

  11. Not much more to say here besides another superb puzzle.

    BTW I only recently found out James also does crossies for the telegraph as Robyn. I’ve subscribed and have been doing all the back issues. Best $5 I’ve ever spent

  12. Picaroon never disappoints – for me he is definitely primus inter pares. His surfaces are so good, such wit! LOI was TWITCHIEST, which took me long time to get; also loved TEE OFF, INCENDIARY, WORKS OF ART and ANKLEBONE among others Many thanks to Picaroon, and to Eileen as ever.

  13. Thanks Setter and Blogger.

    I found very tough to get going – first one in was a 12 letter down anagram. Very unusual for me.

    Some perfect surfaces. I never thought cryptic crosswords and The Prodigy would intersect

  14. Thank you Eileen. I’m also fond of Picaroon’s surfaces and disguised definitions. ABSEIL for off-peak drop was a beauty, and WORKS OF ART a big tick and a chuckle as was ROAST BEEF.

    HIGH MASS tickled me with the tease about (Andy) Murray’s (tennis) service.

  15. (Oh gosh yes. gif@10 The memory of ether and the mask over your face never goes away. I was 4 at the time.)

  16. WORKS OF ART, PEAK DISTRICT and ABSEIL were my favourites. Memories of difficult discussions with my children about what was an acceptable volume to play “Firestarter”

  18. Thanks very much to Picaroon and Eileen. I needed help with full understanding of 19a TOKYO (so darned obvious now), 2d TWITCHIEST and 23d STYE. Like Dave Ellison@7, I wasn’t ever conscious of the fact that RAS TAFARI was two words, always thought it was one, but now realise that “RAS” is a title for Haile Salassi. No stand-outs, just a fairly gentle unfolding for me throughout.

  19. [Matthew Newell@13, I didn’t understand your reference to The Prodigy – probably something obvious, but not for me.]

  21. Very enjoyable: thanks Picaroon (and Eileen). Same quibble about THISTLEDOWN though I like the clue, and similar unpleasant childhood memories of ETHER at the dentist. Took a while to remember what was in Cambridge, Mass. and even longer to get TWITCHIEST. Favourites WORKS OF ART, ANKLEBONE.

  22. Still don’t understand why twitchiest means least cool. Can anyone explain?
    I found this a slow solve, and I had never realised that Ras Tafari was Haile Selassie and hence two words.
    Thanks Picaroon and Eileen.

  24. Hi @SinCam…I took the definition to mean that the person least likely to be cool (ie calm and collected) might be “twitchy”

  27. Very stylish and much appreciated, thanks Picaroon & Eileen

    I like the diametrically opposed NECK & DOWN, and LEWD & SMUT.
    Also liked that ICIER (cooler) crosses with TWITCHIEST (least cool).

  28. I got a better start than usual for a Picaroon, but soon slowed down.

    I flirted with twiddliest until the crossers put me right. I loved the definition for ABSEIL, the wordplays for THISTLEDOWN and RECOGNISED, and the good charade to produce PEAK DISTRICT.

    Thanks Picaroon and Eileen

  29. What an enjoyable solve, in my Goldilocks zone.
    I did google ITERATE, having somehow missed knowing it also meant repeat utterings. For some reason the REITERATE/ITERATE pairing escapes accusations of tautology or redundancy and they seem to happily co-exist
    Thanks to both

  30. Really struggled at first with this, as I thought RAS TAFARI was one complete word, and that with 3,6 required there must be some kind of editorial error. But after grinding out the left half the right half slipped in quite smoothly. Though I did need Eileen’s usual calm explanations for the exact parsing for quite a few of these – RIOJA, TWITCHIEST, TOKYO. Really liked the economy of NECK AND NECK…

  31. Wonderful stuff! I agree with all the high praise already given.

    PEAK DISTRICT was top of my list though.

    Thanks Picaroon and Eileen

  32. Fun fact: “Kyoto” means “capital [kyo] city”. When Edo replaced Kyoto as the imperial capital it was renamed as “Tokyo”, meaning “eastern capital”.

  33. Picaroon is the master of misleading and entertaining surfaces. “Off-peak” in 5a and “Tied down” in 12a were both very clever.

    (Doofs @29: I always vaguely thought that logically “reiterate” must mean to do or say something for at least the third time, but according to the online Merriam-Webster “iterate” and “reiterate” mean the same thing.)

    Many thanks Picaroon and Eileen.

  35. Marvellous, especially PEAK DISTRICT and TWITCHIEST. The toughest challenge for me this week but worth the perseverance.

    Ta Picaroon & Eileen

  38. Alans @36
    You haven’t seen Trading PLaces then? Stock exchange trading in frozen orange juice futures (FOJ) is an important plot point!

  39. Yet another fine puzzle from Picaroon.
    Needed Eileen’s help for the parsing of RIOJA, after much fruitless staring.
    Favourite NECK AND NECK.

  41. As a foreigner I wasn’t familiar with the Peak District but fortunately I guessed the correct soundalike dog, so I filled that one OK. TWITCHIEST stumped me, tough. And I mis-recalled ABSEIL as “abheil.” So a few holes in my DNF.

    I like ROAST BEEF to begin with, and its clue was further enjoyment.

    Also, as a foreigner, I eventually figured out which University in Cambridge it had to be, *much* too slowly considering my dad was a Fellow in their graduate school!

    Happy New Year to all the fillers, bloggers and setters!

  42. [pdm @15, yep same, about 5 at the time. Tonsils and adenoids; the surgical version of what it was like in the bush: if it moves shoot it, if it doesn’t cut it down]

  43. Great fun! NECK AND NECK was my last in and my favourite – such a neat clue, just three words but with a meaningful, deceptive surface and pristine wordplay. Thanks, Picaroon and Eileen.

  44. Some very clever misdirecting definitions here – much liked! ‘Off-peak drop’ for ABSEIL, ‘area for walking (dog)’ for PEAK DISTRICT (I tried putting in PARK at first), ‘(first)’ service for HIGH MASS, ‘tied (down)’ for NECK AND NECK, ‘viewer’s complaint’ for STYE (ouch!) – just a few of the goodies.

    I’m not sure if ANKLEBONE is proper anatomical terminology – sounds a bit like it ought to be in the ‘Dem Bones Dem Bones’ song! – but I suppose in crosswordland it’s OK.

    Thanks to Pickers and Eileen.

  45. [paddymelon@15 and grant@42 … snap! I too was about 4 at the time; tonsils and adenoids whipped out without my consent. My mother later told me that she’d agreed to the pharyngeal tonsils (adenoids) coming out (I was a bit of a mouth-breather apparently: why is that a term of opproprium?) – but not the palatine tonsils: that was at the whim of the surgeon, apparently. I don’t know if my parents complained. I assume medical practices have been tightened up a bit since the early 1950s!

    And yes I was given ether without a pre-med. Ghastly! I still remember the ordeal after all these years. I though the anaesthetist was trying to murder me…]

  46. paddymelon and grantinfreo @ above: same for me – mask & ether; tonsils and adenoids, at age ca 5.
    Thanks too to Picaroon and Eileen

  47. Took an age to get started but once ABSEIL – my favourite – was in it was a steady solve. LOI was TWITCHIEST which I could parse with no problem but thought the definition a tad tenuous.
    Thanks Eileen and PicaroonThePirate (no relation).

  48. Re Alans @36 and muffin @38: I frequently heard OJ for orange juice in my youth in the US. I don’t think I’ve heard it nearly as much recently, but Google Ngram viewer doesn’t show it dropping off in usage, so that’s probably just me.

    I wondered if it was an Americanism, but again Ngram viewer suggests I’m wrong: it’s now more common in British English than American English.

    (https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=OJ&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-GB-2019&smoothing=3 and https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=OJ&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-US-2019&smoothing=3)

  49. I know that MIT is a Cambridge university (I got it) but it is not Cambridge University. Capitalization makes a difference.

  51. Coby: it is generally agreed that the setter is allowed to capitalize a common noun to misdirect the solver, but is not allowed to un-capitalize a proper noun.

    Thus, describing MIT as a Cambridge University is fine, but using “mark, say” to define EVANGELIST is not kosher.

    [For the record, I have a degree from the Cambridge university at the other end of Mass Ave…]

  54. That was a beauty; both the puzzle and the blog were stellar. Agree with others re favourites being abseil, thistle down and Peak District.

  55. Alans @36

    OJ for orange juice was such a common usage in the USA that OJ Simpson’s nickname during his playing career was “the juice”.

  56. Fully on board with all the praise above and wanted to add BLACK BELT to the list of favourites already mentioned – a lovely smooth surface. As is not uncommon for a Friday puzzle it took me a night’s sleep and Saturday morning coffee to get to the end, but very much worth the effort. Thanks Picaroon for the beautiful crossword and Eileen for the limpid (as always) explanations.

  57. There is a connection between the off-peak drop and the Peak District as I have seen pictures of abseiling from the Millers Dale Viaduct near Buxton in the Peak District.

  58. A delightful challenge. I foundered on TWITCHIEST — not because I can’t see how that equates to “least cool”, but because “titchy” (much less “titchiest”) was wholly unknown to me. That and RAS TAFARI and PEAK DISTRICT were my failures. (The idea of “peke” = “dog” doesn’t work for me, either, but nevertheless…)

  59. I failed on TWITCHIEST for similar reasons to ThemTates@57. I’d been looking for TINIEST being involved, but NECK AND NECK (great clue!) made for an inconvenient crosser, and I never got back on track.

    Lots of very tricky – and satisfying – stuff from this setter, and I got closer to finishing than his 30th December effort, where I was a whole quadrant short, so maybe I’ve improved. (Fat chance.)

    Thanks to Picaroon and Eileen.

  60. I found this heavy going- only managed about half unaided – but it’s been a long couple of days at work (I do these in quiet moments throughout the week) and I could work out nearly all the parsing from the reveals before I came here for explanation- which means I am slowly succeeding in learning crossword lore!!

Comments are closed.