Guardian Cryptic 29,540 by Brummie

by

An enjoyable solve – I particularly liked 20ac and 25ac. Thanks Brummie for the the puzzle

There is a theme in the solutions around the APOLLO MOON LANDING,  including LIFT OFF, SEPARATION, DOCKING, DESCENT, and SPLASH DOWN.

ACROSS
9 ORBIT
Oxygen particle takes reverse path (5)
O (chemical symbol for Oxygen) + BIT=”particle”; around R (reverse, e.g. on a car gear stick)
10 ON THE SPOT
Where to apply ointment in difficult situation (2,3,4)
an ointment might be applied ON THE SPOT e.g. as an acne treatment
11 NORTH SIDE
Cold aspect of ex-PM and team? (5,4)
NORTH (Lord North, former UK Prime Minister) + SIDE=”team”
12 ALLEY
Dale against exiting passage (5)
[V]-ALLEY=”Dale”, with V (versus, “against”) exiting
13 DOCKING
Contracting medic to attend ruler (7)
for definition, ‘to dock’ meaning ‘to shorten’ or ‘to contract’

DOC (Doctor, “medic”) + KING=”ruler”
15 DIABOLO
One, in a bold move, goes to ball game (7)
definition: a game played with a top that is spun on a string

I=”One”, inside anagram/”move” of (a bold)*, plus O=round letter=”ball”
17 TIMES
Paper X (5)
double definition: The Times as a newspaper; or X as the symbol for multiplication (2 x 2 = 2 times 2)
18
See 29 Down
20 IMPEL
Force leader, caught in bad lie, to U-turn (5)
PM (Prime Minister, “leader”) reversed/”to U-turn”; in anagram/”bad” of (lie)*
22 DESCENT
Son stifled by ‘worthy’ ancestry (7)
S (Son) inside DECENT=”worthy”
25 LANDING
Managing to get somewhere between flights (7)
double definition: first definition as in e.g. ‘to land a job offer’; second as in a LANDING between two “flights” of stairs
26 DELFT
City was first to back paper (5)
definition: a city in the Netherlands

LED=was in first position=”was first”, reversed/”to back”; plus FT (Financial Times, “paper”)
2;7 UNHOLY ROW
Wicked bank’s terrible racket (6,3)
UNHOLY=”Wicked” + ROW=line or rank=”bank”
30 WISCONSIN
Detailed, informed arguments against current state (9)
definition: a US state

WIS-[e]=”informed”, without its end letter or ‘tail’ i.e. “De-tailed”; plus CONS as in ‘pros and cons’=”arguments against”; plus IN=trendy=”current”
31 FATAL
Death-dealing, gross mobster? (5)
FAT=”gross” + AL (Al Capone, “mobster”)
DOWN
1 MOON
Low point is to make a cheeky gesture (4)
definition: to moon is to show one’s buttocks

MOO=make a sound like cattle=”Low” + N (North, “point” of the compass”)
2 EBORACUM
Barking, Rome, Cuba, York initially (8)
definition: the name of the Roman settlement that has become York

anagram/”Barking” of (Rome Cuba)*
3 UTAH
About a half-hour is more than enough for this place (4)
hidden in [Abo] UT A H [alf-hour] – the letters in the whole phrase are “more than enough”, so take only some of the letters
4 COMING TO
Future turnover recovering from collapse? (6,2)
COMING=”Future” + TO (short for Turn Over)
5 ATTEND
Be there when it’s all over, tense inside (6)
AT END=”when it’s all over” with T (tense) inside
6 SEPARATION
Panties, or a pants split? (10)
anagram/”pants” of (Panties or a )*
7 APOLLO
A parrot has nothing on butterfly (6)
definition: the name for a species of butterfly

A (from surface) + POLL=”parrot” + O=zero=”nothing”
8 STAY
Brace of salmon introduced on river (4)
definition: ‘stay’ and ‘brace’ as in ‘support’ (as noun or verb)

first/introductory letter of S-[almon] + the TAY river
13 DATED
Went out with old hat (5)
double definition
14 INSPECTION
Check hacked PIN notices (10)
anagram/”hacked” of (PIN notices)*
16 OFLAG
Ordinary, standard prison camp (5)
definition: a type of German prisoner-of-war camp in WWI

O (Ordinary) + FLAG=”standard” as a noun
19 FILCHING
Theft of rubbing outside church (8)
FILING=polishing=”rubbing” around CH (church)
21 PRIORITY
Earlier conviction in US large town not leader’s main concern (8)
PRIOR=”Earlier conviction [in US English]” + [c]-ITY=”large town” without its leading letter
23 SPLASH
Trumpet band secures record backing (6)
definition: to announce or display some information very prominently

SASH=”band” around: LP=long playing music “record”, reversed/”backing”
24 TRUISM
Prominent Republican all but crushes lives – that’s self-evident (6)
TRUM-[p]=”Prominent Republican”, with “all but” indicating the shortening; around IS=exists=”lives”
26 DOWN
Blue feathers (4)
double definition: as in having a low mood; or as in the down feathers of birds
28 LIFT
In control, if temperatures pick up (4)
hidden “In”: [contro] L IF T [emperatures]
29, 18 WALK OFF
Get rid of a bad mood, say, pedestrian-style? (4,3)
one can WALK OFF a bad mood, and “pedestrian-style” suggests walking – not sure if there’s more to this clue

 

52 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,540 by Brummie”

  2. It is the 55th anniversary of the LIFT OFF of APOLLO 12, I discovered on realising the theme. I solved NORTH SIDE sitting in the sunny, warm north side of our house: cold aspect it isn’t. OFLAG was a TILT – neither stalag not gulag would parse. Pleasant if somewhat tricky solve – thanks, Brummie and manehi.

  3. Very enjoyable. A couple of new ones for me, EBORACUM and DIABOLO, but both satisfyingly gettable from the clueing. The latter came up as “Diablo”, when I googled, both a very popular online game and a card game. Is DIABOLO an alternative spelling or is there another game out there? LIFT was nicely hidden, the second Earl of Guilford, Lord NORTH was a rather obscure British PM, apart from R for reverse in ORBIT (presumably from a car gear lever) we were mercifully free of the use of my unfavourite device, and thanks to manehi for the parsing of WISCONSIN, which was beyond me. Thanks Brummie.

  6. I liked this one, but am wondering whether Utah and Wisconsin are thematic. My extensive research (5 minutes on Google) has so far proved fruitless.
    TassieTim @2: good spot on Apollo 12!
    Thank you, Brummie and manehi.

  8. One of Brummie’s best, methought.

    I liked NORTH SIDE, IMPEL, WISCONSIN, EBORACUM, WISCONSIN. The definition for TRUISM is a truism, sadly.

    Thanks to Brummie and manehi

  9. Only song I remember of Tom Waits was something about Saturday night. Anyway, a nice amble through this, no complaints, although you dock a pet”s tail or someone’s pay, but contract…? Lots of stuff about moon landing, splash down etc., … yawn. Ta both.

  10. As with Eileen, my top favourite was EBORACUM not least because of a memorable school trip. The sun was shining and I thought it was such a beautiful place. I also really liked WISCONSIN, UNHOLY ROW and TRUISM. I even got the theme 😎. Thanks as ever to Brummie and manehi.

  11. Lovely crossword, just APOLLO I could not parse. I guessed POLL = PARROT, but I could not find it in Chambers. Is it short for POLLY, being a common name for a PARROT.
    I thought 2d was one of the best clues I have seen for ages.
    Thanks both.

  13. I failed to parse ALLEY. Didn’t know the handsome APOLLO butterfly: having got the final O I tried to fit MORPHO in, but eventually it became obvious what it must be because of the theme (which surely includes ORBIT and maybe MOON WALK?)

    Fat Al was fun, but EBORACUM was favourite.

  14. HoofitYouDonkey @11, that was certainly my understanding of POLL.

    Brummie being gentle today; didn’t need the theme to tease out unlikely answers.

  15. I didn’t think of looking for a theme until I completed the puzzle and read the comments at the Guardian. I see now it has something to do with the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing which I watched on TV as a child. Our teacher brought his TV set to our primary school but now I wonder what is/was the time difference between Australia, the USA and the moon that day!

    New for me: APOLLO butterfly (it looks so beautiful); DIABOLO game.

    Favourites: DOWN (very succinct clue); IMPEL.

    I could not parse 30ac but I solved it easily enough as that state was in the news a lot due to the recent US election.

  16. Liked ON THE SPOT, IMPEL, COMING TO and PRIORITY.

    WALK OFF
    Seems to be a cryptic def. This particular way of getting rid of one’s bad mood is in the style of a pedestrian.
    If there is more to it, someone will enlighten us soon.

    Thanks Brummie and manehi.

  17. I had 25a with a triple definition, the two clear ones identified in manehi’s blog and then the more strained use of landing for a stopover in a two-stage plane journey.

  18. HIYD@11: From Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend ‘if it warn’t wasting good sherry wine on you, I’d chuck this at you, for Poll Parroting with this man. It’s along of Poll Parroting that such like as him gets their suspicions, whereas I gets mine by argueyment, and being nat’rally a honest man, and sweating away at the brow as a honest man ought.’

  19. Lovely crossword. Lots of short, neat and tidy clues, which I like. The clue for DELFT was my favourite.
    Thanks to Brummie and manehi.

  20. Michelle@15, Wikipedia says the landing was at 02:56 UTC on July 21st 1969, which fits my memory of watching it around 4am BST. I’ll let you convert to your time zone – mid-afternoon?

    Over thought 3d as half of (abo)UTA + H for hour. Manehi’s simpler explanation is much more convincing. Thanks to him and Brummie.

  21. Mostly gettable, I felt, and as always I missed the theme. And as always a couple of Brummie’s more elaborate parsings escaped me. Happy to remember the “low” trick as well as X for times from other recent appearances.

    I had a hard time convincing myself about 20A, but it could not be other than IMPEL. But wouldn’t it be better as “Force leader to U-turn, caught in bad lie”? The original phrasing implies the whole thing should be reversed, which makes little sense.

    I do have to carp a little about some not-so-GK. NHO 16D, 15A, “poll” for “parrot”, nor 2D (got the latter by identifying the anagram fodder and guessing it might be the Roman name, then googling, all of which was quite unsatisfactory). And did not recall Lord North, although he may be better known to others.

  22. WALK OFF is there for the themers MOONWALK and LIFT-OFF.
    [No names clued – Conrad, Bean, and Gordon not quite as memorable as the Apollo XI or XIII crews.]

  23. Pace @21: Lord NORTH was PM (though they didn’t call the post that until later) at the time of the American Revolutionary War, so he might be a bit more familiar to our transatlantic colleagues?

  24. Lovely puzzle, ready identifiable theme.
    More ticks from me for EBORACUM and WISCONSIN – both are beautiful clues.
    OFLAG was new, but gettable. PM NORTH a bit obscure for an Aussie.
    Thanks Brummie and manehi

  25. Found this an enjoyable smooth solve. Delighted to discover EBORACUM at 2d. Like Pauline@10 I’m a huge fan of visiting the city, with its layers of history. And for the Ebor Racing Festival every August where, glad to say, they don’t publicly execute convicted criminals before the races on The Knavesmire these days (a la Dick Turpin). Many thanks Brummie and Manehi…

  26. Gervase @23, yes I certainly wouldn’t say Lord NORTH was obscure. He was traditionally regarded as our worst ever PM, and he was the minister referred to by Sherlock Holmes when he said, “It is always a joy to me to meet an American… for I am one of those who believe that the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in fargone years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes.”

    [bodycheetah @1: what a great album. My favourite lyric:
    I’m a pool-shooting shimmy shyster shaking my head
    When I should be living clean instead    ]

    Good fun with a well-worked theme. Many thanks Brummie and manehi.

  27. Another compositional masterpiece, bravo Brummie! Like TheGreatArturo@6 I was wondering if those states were thematic? Thank you manehi!

  28. Thanks both,
    Is ‘wise’ the same as ‘informed’?
    Judge to counsel: I’m sorry to say that after your explanation, I am no wiser’
    Counsel to judge: No, m’lud, but you are better informed.

  29. nho TO for “turnover,” or the APOLLO butterfly (google referred me to a documentary about them which looks interesting). OFLAG sounded dimly familiar, though I don’t know hos it’s different from “stalag.”

    I finished the whole puzzle last night, which always leaves me feeling slightly deprived, with nothing to nibble at in the morning. But the puzzle was a good ‘un.

    Thanks, Brummie and manehi.

  30. I have never commented before because, in my time zone, everything has been said by the time I wake up but I have enjoyed reading the blogs and comments. However, I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to suggest that 10a is also thematic. As TassieTim @2 said, this is the 55th anniversary of Apollo 12’s launch and one of its notable achievements was to land exactly “on the spot,” not a few miles off target like Apollo 11. It might be a coincidence and we would need Brummie to confirm it. If not, it was still a great puzzle.

  31. Regarding Lord North.

    I once, briefly, rejoiced in the title ‘Edward Lord North Scholar’ but he was an earlier, and more obscure, version: served Henry VIII through to Elizabeth I. So the America-loser is familiar to me: in the same ignominious box as Romulus Augustulus, Llewelyn the Last etc.

    Nice puzzle, thanks Brummie and manehi – we had forgotten the LANDING between flights of stairs.

  32. [Lord Jim @26: Perhaps it is significant that Conan Doyle published the story containing that quotation in 1892, before the Spanish-American War of 1898 gave a hint that the UK might not be wearing the trousers in that marriage 🙂 ]

  33. Finished this, but had to look up some the more obscure (for me) references. Favorite clue for me was 31A “FATAL”. Not part of the theme, but gave me a giggle. In 19D, “filing” isn’t the first synonym I’d conjure for “rubbing” — though it’s entirely reasonable — so it was one I had to parse after guessing. Thanks!

  34. Thanks Brummie and manehi

    Valentine @ 29: OFLAG is Offizierlager, ie a prison camp for officers, while STALAG is Stablager, a prison camp for Other Ranks.

  35. TimSee@20
    thanks for the info – it must have been around 12 noon in Melbourne, Australia but I guess we watched the lead-up for an hour or so before that.

  36. ORBIT must also be part if the theme. Didn’t see it mentioned above – apologies if it’s already been highlighted.

  38. Like grantinfreo@9, I have trouble getting from “contract” to DOCK. I also wondered if I was missing something about 29dn (WALK OFF), but I guess not.

    I think I’d seen the word OFLAG before, but I couldn’t call it to mind. And I don’t think I’ve seen the abbreviation TO for “turnover”, but that’s probably due to my ignorance of nearly all sporting matters.

  39. Michelle@15 et al: I watched the Apollo 11 landing in a Physics 1 lecture at noon. On a tiny TV set. The only Uni lecture I can recall when everyone wanted the front seats. But this crossie commemorates the later Apollo 12 flight (me@2).

  41. A late start for me today but was an enjoyable nightcap. Took me forever to see UTAH however, which I stuck in from the crossers.
    Didn’t think to look for a theme but it wouldn’t have helped me.
    Thanks Brummie and manehi for the blog.

  42. Ted@38
    In the days when people used to write letters and use both sides of the paper it was not uncommon to see PTO at the bottom of page 1. Short for Please Turn Over.

  44. This may be re-opening a long settled debate, but what exactly are the rules these days for including the first letter of a word in the answer?
    I’m referring to both 5d; where if anywhere is the indication that you should insert only the first letter of ‘tense’, and 16d where ‘O’ is apparently ‘ordinary’?

    Certain words I accept are, and always have been, conventionally usable in this manner; ‘O’ from ‘Old’ springs to mind. But have the rules changed since I last did cryptics back in the 1980s, are setters these days now allowed to use the first letter of any word without explicitly indicating a truncation?

    I’m just asking as part of my ongoing re-education in cryptic solving, I hope this doesn’t trigger a storm.

  45. Graham @44 – you don’t seem to have triggered a storm!

    If there is a ‘rule’ it seems to be that you should be able to find the abbreviation in one of the major dictionaries. But my own guidance would be to use the device as sparingly as possible (hence my comment @3 re R, in part a continuation of my grumble that over use of this trick in the previous day’s crossword by Qaos slightly marred an otherwise brilliant puzzle) as it is just not very interesting. I can’t think of a single occasion when I have realised that a word stands for its initial letter and had the ‘aha’ moment which I truly cherish from solving a clue or parsing part of a clue.

    Merely my view (in case that storm is lurking just over the horizon) and I am aware from previous discussions on here that other views are available.

  46. Paul @45 thanks for the feedback. I’m with you in finding it unsatisfactory, it’s not an”aha” when you realise that you just have to put the first letter in if there’s not been a (however misleading) indication of that fact.

    I also failed to parse 9a due to trying to use ‘reverse’ as a “read backwards” indicator, which might be misleading but also in my book verging on unfairly so, just an opinion also. But that appears to be a boat that’s sailed.

    Anyway I’ll try to add “look at all the possible first letters” to my solving process from here on in.

  47. Graham @45 if it makes you feel any better I was also focused on reverse meaning read backwards until I had the crossers and guessed ORBIT. Then I could parse. A reverse of what should be the process! Happy solving!!

  48. Graham @44 and @46 – O for ordinary comes from the exams sat at 16 and 18 in England and Wales – at 16 the exams were Ordinary levels or O Levels (now GCSEs), and we still have A or Advanced Levels at 18. It’s in Chambers in that sense

    T for tense is also in Chambers, I suspect from English grammar notation, but don’t know that one, it’s also an abbreviation for tension in science.

    Those aren’t random single letters but recognised abbreviations.

  49. What Shanne @48 says. Just look in a dictionary and you’ll find pa.t. for past tense and pr.t. for present tense. Either single letters are abbreviations listed in a dictionary, or obvious ones not listed (like R-reverse, D-drive, N-neutral, not to mention my bugbear not in a dictionary… Y/N for Yes/No) or a crossword editor won’t let it through without some sort of initial letter indication like “first of”, “start of”, “primarily” etc. etc.

  51. Utah beach was a WWII “landing site” so maybe that is the theme connection.
    This puzzle was the first one where I spotted the theme early and used it to solve several stubborn entries (‘orbit’, ‘on the spot’, and ‘Apollo’)
    Thx Brummie

  52. Googled the Roman name for York, knowing that’s what it was and not wanting to guess from all the permutations (and that’s totally fine by me). Googled the suspected OFLAG (also totally fine). Bunged in North, thinking that it might be an ex-PM, but not one I’d heard of. The north side is the cold side of buildings in the northern hemisphere, which gave me confidence. As did TEAM being SIDE. Good puzzle. Thanks to Brummie and setter.

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