Guardian Cryptic 29,603 by Brummie

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29603.

A friendly grid, with all initial letters cross-checked, and which Brummie has filled with a good variety of relatively simple clue forms. He often uses a theme, but nothing stands out for me here.

ACROSS
1 CHAOTIC
Check, one related to ear that’s messy (7)
A charade of CH (‘check’ in chess) plus A (‘one’) plus OTIC (‘related to ear’).
5 SECULAR
Lay out clues with a solver’s tip (7)
A charade of SECUL, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘clues’; plus ‘a’ plus R (‘solveR‘s tip’).
9 LANTERN
Light, so aren’t moving in line regularly? (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of ANTER, an anagram (‘moving’) of ‘aren’t’ in LN (‘LiNe regularly’).
10 DRAUGHT
Current game’s unfinished (7)
DRAUGHT[s] (‘game’) minus its last letter (‘unfinished’).
11 SHIPMATES
Spam is ‘the works’ for the rest of the crew (9)
An anagram (‘works’) of ‘spam is the’.
12 NATCH
Kidnap missing leader? Certainly (5)
[s]NATCH (‘kidnap’) minus its first letter (‘missing leader’).
13 AS YET
Anglo-Saxon hairy creature one’s neglected until now (2,3)
A charade of AS (‘Anglo-Saxon’) plus YET[i] (‘hairy creature’) minus the I (‘one’s neglected’). I am only familiar with the answer in the form “not as yet”, where it does not mean “not until now”.
15 BUCHAREST
City in which a pair takes daily exercise initially (9)
An envelope (‘takes’) of CHAR (‘daily’ – these terms for a cleaning lady have come up frequently in crosswords, but there always seem to be some for whom they are unfamiliar) plus E (‘Exercise initially’) in BUST (‘a pair’ – does that need an explanation?).
17 RECUMBENT
Lying about copper (crooked) raking in millions (9)
An envelope (‘raking in’) of M (‘millions’) in RE (‘about’) plus CU (chemical symbol, ‘copper’) plus BENT (‘crooked’)
19 GOLEM
Brummie goes on record over animated artificial human (5)
A reversal (‘over’) of ME (‘Brummie’) plus (‘goes on’) LOG (‘record’), for the being in Jewish folklore.
22 GLOSS
Sheen appearing at last on Casualty? (5)
A charade of G (‘appearinG at last’) plus LOSS (‘casualty’).
23 DETRACTOR
One who belittles journalist reversing vehicle (9)
A charade of DE, a reversal (‘reversing’) of ED (‘journalist’) plus TRACTOR (‘vehicle’).
25 ERELONG
Say, Loren’s excited to go inside soon! (7)
An envelope (‘to go inside’) of RELON, an anagram (‘excited”) of ‘Loren’ in E.G. (exempli gratia, ‘say’).
26 NUPTIAL
Union-related joke about ‘turning tail’ (7)
.A charade of NUP, a reversal (‘about’) of PUN (‘joke’); plus TIAL, an anagram (‘turning’) of ‘tail’
27 SHYNESS
Reserve cast put by lake (7)
A charade of SHY (‘cast’, throw) plus NESS (‘lake’, or Loch as it is generally known).
28 CONFESS
Admit high speed force used in breaking noses (7)
A charade of C (‘high speed’ – of light) plus ONFESS, an envelope (‘used in’) of F (‘force’) in ONESS, an anagram (‘breaking’) of ‘noses’.
DOWN
1 CELESTA
‘It’s played in confidence’ – Les Taylor (7)
A hidden answer ‘in’ ‘confidenCE LES TAylor’. The instruiment is featured in the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta of Béla Bartók, and, prominently, in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
2 ANNUITY
Unit involved in some unspecified periodic payment (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of NUIT, an anagram (‘involved’) of ‘unit’ in ANY (‘some unspecified’).
3 THERM
Article on empty space unit (5)
A charade of THE (definite ‘article’) plus R[oo]M (‘space’) minus its middle letters (’empty’), with the vague definition of the unit of heat energy.
4 CONSTABLE
Officer deceives board (9)
A charade of CONS (‘deceives’) plus TABLE (‘board’).
5 SIDES
Vicious drugs parties? (5)
A charade of SID (‘Vicious’, the punk rocker) plus ES (‘drugs’). Indeed drug parties were not unknown in the life and death of Sid Vicious.
6 CHAIN GANG
Convicted felons with connections (5,4)
Cryptic definition.
7 LEGATEE
Ambassador: he commonly is a beneficiary (7)
A charade of LEGATE (‘ambassador’) plus ‘E (‘he commonly’).
8 RATCHET
Toothy thing’s liberal chatter (7)
An anagram (‘liberal’) of ‘chatter’, with a kind of definition that Brummie often favours.
14 TOMBSTONE
Ben’s motto translated as ‘That’ll be over my dead body!’ (9)
An anagram (‘translated’) of ‘Ben’s motto’.
16 CATATONIC
Rigid Tom needs a boost (9)
A charade of CAT (‘Tom’ – indication by example) plus ‘a’ plus TONIC (‘boost’).
17 REGRESS
‘Get back to your old state!’ gives Republican a way out (7)
A charade of R (‘Republican’) plus EGRESS (‘a way out’).
18 COOPERY
Cask-maker’s craft: weaving rope in modest surroundings (7)
An envelope (‘in … surroundings’) of OPER, an anagram (‘weaving’) of ‘rope’ in COY (‘modest’).
20 LATRINE
Art arranged in row for convenience (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of ATR, an anagram (‘arranged’) of ‘art’ in LINE (‘row’).
21 MARBLES
Game that Greece would like to see making a return? (7)
Double definition, the second being a reference to the Elgin Marbles.
23 DEGAS
Painter’s daughter turned up a shade of green (5)
A charade of D (‘daughter’) plus EGAS, a reversal (‘turned up’ in a down light) of SAGE (‘a shade of green’). Does anyone admit responsibility for that picture of a green-faced woman? It certainly was not Degas.
24 ASPEN
It quivers, similar to a swan (5)
A charade of AS (‘similar to’) plus PEN (female ‘swan’). Populus tremuloides is a tree commonly known as the quaking aspen.

picture of the completed grid

67 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 29,603 by Brummie”

  1. Nice puzzle, nothing too obscure or tortuous.

    In BUCHAREST, I would never have got pair -> bust directly (but not complaining) – just glad most clues can be worked in two directions.

    When doing THERM, I was wondering if the “empty space” construction would be viewed by some like the indirect anagram, but my own feelings are that the rest of the clue is sufficiently straightforward to permit it – a kind of conservation of difficulty argument.

    Tx B&P

  2. I’d’ve thought ere long was two words, but I’m happy for it to be one. But yes, pretty cruisy from the Brum, I liked the tombstone clue. Thanks B and PO.

  4. I must have been too tired at midnight as only solved a few. Flowed in nicely just now in my insomnia break.

    TOMBSTONE stands out – excellent clue.

    Thanks Brummie and PeterO

  6. My only “Huh?” today was why the C in CONFESS was high speed.

    All else fell into place and was enjoyed.

  7. A very likeable puzzle. Thanks to Brummie and PeterO. It’s always fun to learn a new word and if it’s a hidden that is very helpful – for me here it was CELESTA at 1d. I particularly enjoyed parsing 5d SIDES, 20d LATRINE, 21d MARBLES and 24d ASPEN.

  8. This was a very smooth Brummie. As our blogger says, fairly straightforward from a setter who can certainly produce more convoluted fare but I really enjoyed how this fitted together. TOMBSTONE is an absolute delight- what a find. I also enjoyed SECULAR for the almost hidden away definition; AS YET which made me smile and which is a phrase I have certainly encountered so no probs there; RECUMBENT which makes nice use of Lego; GOLEM for giving a different artificial form; CONFESS with its amusing surface; the simple but effective CONSTABLE and a sweet cryptic play in CHAIN GANG. My only query is what the ‘so’ is doing in LANTERN: for a moment, I thought I had to account for or use it in some way.

    A thought on AS YET: I find that the examples that come to mind are all using the phrase as an extension to an adjective. The as yet unconquered peaks; the as yet unbroken record; the as yet undefeated team; the as yet loyal supporters …

    Thanks Brummie and PeterO

  10. Thanks PeterO. Needed you for CONFESS.
    Re LEGATEE, I liked the ‘he’, (while it misdirected me) … the honorific HE, His/Her Excellency, for an Ambassador.
    The 5s SECULAR, SIDES and the 17s RECUMBENT, REGRESS my favourites.

  17. Thanks Brummie and PeterO
    I was very much on the wavelength for this one and really enjoyed it. Favourite SECULAR.
    SID Vicious may not be all that well known these days.

  20. Nice puzzle. I’m struggling to think of any instance where ‘AS YET’ and ‘until now’ would not be interchangeable.
    Thanks both.

  21. The last two to be winkled out were the tricky SIDES, followed by SECULAR. BUCHAREST I couldn’t parse fully, but the crossers in place insisted on it. Some years ago I spent a few days in Moldova amongst the Ingerland football fans when we beat the host nation 5-0. John Terry’s last game for England. On the way home had to change planes in Bucharest, had saved some Moldovan cash to spend during the 5 hour wait at the airport. However, when I exchanged the money into Romanian money I only got about a tenth of of its previous value. Could just about afford a small beer…

  22. A very crafty and entertaining puzzle, with some nice double-bluffs in the wordplays.
    I had two watery quibbles, until I realised that Brummie had outfoxed me.
    5(ac)….I default to “the tip” of a word being the first letter; but when I come to think of it, the tip of an iceberg is where it finishes, not where it starts.
    Ditto, when I think of a snooker cue….is its tip, the front of the cue, or the end of it?
    27(ac), I felt that “NESS” is a headland, not a lake, but I can see it’s (presumably?) a Definition by Example, using Loch Ness?
    Pretty much a perfect job of setting. Difficulty level spot-on, with no bizarros.

    Cheers, Mr.B & PeterO

  23. I thought the definition of secular was cleverly disguised. I huffed a bit about the definition for ratchet but generally I feel that it doesn’t matter if the definition is inaccessible (or vague) as long as it is solvable from the wordplay and the definition is clearly correct with hindsight; also vice versa if the definition is accessible but the wordplay is difficult.

  24. Did anyone else find a painter called Heloise Demil? I thought not. The parsing of BUCHAREST passed us by, but everything else was fine. How did our American brethren fare with DRAUGHT? Thanks, Brummie and PeterO.

  25. No E.M.Boll& @22, “NESS” is not a definition by example. Lake is not a definition by example. If “ness” was in the clue, and “lake” was in the answer, that would be a definition by example.

  26. I had finished the bottom half last night and commented on the thread that I would return in the morning. However, I had one last stab and it all fell in reasonably quickly after that, with the NW going in last. One of my last solutions was CONSTABLE, I’m ashamed to say. I thought BUCHAREST might be seen as a tad Carry On, but it doesn’t seem to have raised any comments so far. TOMBSTONE, CELESTA and REGRESS were my standouts.
    Thanks for the earworm paddymelon, two Sam Cooke favourites in a week. I also laughed at your comment on mine last night, very funny 😊

    Ta Brummie & PeterO.

  29. That was all very smooth, with some lovely brief clues and hidden definitions such as “lay” for “secular” and “lying” for “recumbent” which blended smoothly into the clue surface. Over too soon alas.

    Dr. WhatsOn @1: I don’t think anyone has responded to your query about an indirect anagram. For me, my rule is that these things are OK so long as there is only one or a very limited number of possibilities for the manipulation of the synonym. So I would say that, after thinking of a synonym, removing head or tail or both, and removing the contents are definitely OK. An anagram is not. In the grey zone is “cycling”. Although there is more than one possibility when cycling a word, the outcomes are very well defined and can be checked through quickly. I am OK with that, but I fully understand that others may consider it a step too far.

    Thanks PeterO and Brummie

  30. Raised half an eyebrow at COOPERY rather than cooperage being the craft? Chambers seems to concur, suggesting the coopery is a business

    Confidently biffed in an unparsed STEAMSHIP but soon got that sinking feeling

    Too early in the day for Sid Vicious’s raucous rendition of My Way?

    Cheers P&B

  31. 13a AS YET: “… P.2.a. c1405– Referring to the period preceding the present time (or some other stated time), with the implication that subsequent change is expected or a recognized possibility: up to this (or that) time, until now (or until then); hitherto; so far…” (There’s also an “Obsolete P.2.b. †…”)
    [Join your local (not just the UK – Ireland, Oz, Canada, & the US, too) library and get free access to oed.com]

  32. I’m one for whom CHAR=daily is unfamiliar. Having said that I recall asking for guidance on these pages last time I saw it crop up, which I’m guessing is over a year ago: so, not that regularly for me since I only do the Guardian crosswords. Maybe this time it’ll stick, like U=posh is finally starting to.

    Anyway BUCHAREST was clear enough once I’d got most of the crossers.

  33. I’d imagine Brummie is referring to Michael in GLOSS rather than Martin or Charlie although the thought raised a smile. Crispy @12: 🙂

  34. I had a ridiculously long list of ticks today – I found this puzzle a delight from start to finish.

    I wish I had time to itemise them all but will just pick out SECULAR, SHIPMATES, RECUMBENT, SIDES, TOMBSTONE, REGRESS, and MARBLES, for reasons given by other contributors.

    I’m with Petert @27 re the artist – that’s the one that occurred to me (see also here:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394085/Revealed-60-years–real-Green-Lady-face-million-living-room-walls.html )

    Many thanks to Brummie for a real treat and to PeterO for the blog.

  35. Really liked this, SECULAR my fave for its misdirection, followed by NUPTIAL due to my attempt to shoehorn in MARITAL. Blinked slightly at Ness being a lake rather than a loch and a bit surprised that we haven’t as yet had any irate Scots.

  36. Enjoyable puzzle with some nice misdirections but nothing overtaxing.

    My favourites: SECULAR, RECUMBENT, TOMBSTONE.

    Like others, I am mystified by our blogger’s unfamiliarity with AS YET (FrankieG @31: Thanks for the OED entry, with the reminder of the lovely word ‘hitherto’; its partner ‘henceforth’ is equally welcome. There’s nothing like a good deictic adverb).

    Thanks to Brummie and PeterO

  37. Trailman@35

    If you take a geographical definition of ‘lake’ as an inland body of water, then that includes lochs, tarns and everything else individual bodies of water are named. There is of course only one lake in the Lake District (Lake Bassenthwaite) – everything else is either a mere, water or tarn!

  38. NE corner was responsible for a marmalade overdose at this breakfast table but I got there in the end, thank you Brummie and PeterO

  41. TassieTim @24: yes, we call the game checkers, and we spell DRAUGHT, nearly always, with an F instead of an “ugh” (ha). But I’ve encountered far more obscure Britishisms than those two around here. I’ll admit that clue did hold me up for a while, but so did the whole upper right, which took me about as long as the entire rest of the puzzle.

    Re the CELESTA: the New York Times ran this really great article about the history of the instrument at the start of Nutcracker season this past December. (Lots of nice clips embedded in there too.)

  42. If we’re doing earworms today, I found this one after someone in the Guardian comments was trying to think of a real life use of ERELONG.

    I have no argument with using C=speed of light, but it’s one that didn’t come readily to my mind. The wordplay for THERM gave me THESE for a while, which puzzled me until I spotted the further step to the indirect subtraction. Not sure that Scots will be happy with being expected to recognise “Lake” Ness: it just isnae one!

    I got BUCHAREST from the inevitable CHAR=daily: the pair came later. Favourites TOMBSTONE, MARBLES and SECULAR for a neatly hidden def. Thanks Brummie: it was a pleasure.

  43. Good variety of clues. I liked the force used in breaking noses to give CONFESS, the well-hidden CELESTA, the Vicious SIDES and the art found in a LATRINE.

    Thanks Brummie and PeterO.

  44. Andy iD @37, indeed so. Brummie chose to use lake – I guess it’s one of those tricks setters use to tweak the difficulty level, for if he had used loch, it’s a gimme.

  46. Unlike mrpenney, I had to reveal DRAUGHT. I am OK with non-US spellings in the solutions and with non-US terms, even cricketing language, in the clues, but I am often stumped (speaking of cricket) when both occur simultaneously. (And puns that depend on non-rhotic pronunciations can also leave me scratching my head and waiting for fifteensquared even when I can work out the solution from crossers and the definition.)

  47. Trailman @35 and others

    The last time a setter called a loch a lake (which it is, and I say this as a Scot), Fiona of this neighbourhood got very irate. Perhaps at this point she is just ‘nursing her wrath to keep it warm,’ as Burns put it.

  48. Judge @45
    Not quite: there are sea lochs (but Loch Ness is not one, and answers to the sassenach lake).
    beaulieu @20
    I am not sure where you are coming from: if you regard “not as yet” and ‘not until now” as synonymous, what meaning do you assign to them? I would treat the first as meaning “it has not happened, even though there is the likelihood that it may in the future” and the second as ” it has not happened previously, but now it has happened”. I think this conforms with the examples given by Postmark @8: the as yet unconquered peak has not been climbed, but the until now unconquered peak has, recently – and so on. Perhaps the example given by Hawa @5 is not quite so clear-cut; presented with “nobody has arrived until now”, I would take it to mean that the first arrival has just occurred, although if it were clear from the situation that there are still no arrivals, I might not think the speaker was talking through his hat.
    Petert @27
    Thank you, that’s the one, not the Picasso (I would not have difficulty naming the painter there)

  49. AS YET is a phrase often used laden with foreboding eg “Trump has not enacted legislation granting him a third term in office – as yet.”

  51. This was enjoyable, but challenging in a couple of places, particularly in the NE.

    I too expect the tip (singular) of a word to be the start, but I guess cryptically it can equally be the finish given that tips would clearly mean both ends.

    I originally had THEME for THERM and feel that it works; a unit of a learning course is typically dedicated to a theme, and the wordplay is THE on/over/enclosing EM which is an empty space (or a dash) the length of the letter M.

    Thanks both.

  52. This was enjoyable, but challenging in a couple of places, particularly in the NE.

    I too expect the tip (singular) of a word to be the start, but I guess cryptically it can equally be the finish given that tips would clearly mean both ends.

    I originally had THEME for THERM and feel that it works; a unit of a learning course typically corresponds to a theme, and the wordplay is THE on/over/enclosing EM which is a space (as well as a dash) whose width is based on that of the letter M.

    Thanks both.

  53. As with gladys @42, I thought the wordplay at 3d clearly gave THESE – but I couldn’t connect it with the definition. I’m not sure if I think R(oo)M is entirely fair, though I did get to it quite quickly once I had rejected my first thought.

  54. Yes, pretty straightforward today. Just one quibble: why have 5a as “Lay out clues… “ rather than “Lay clues out…” which makes the anagrind much easier to rationalise to my mind.
    Maybe an aborted painting theme with DEGAS, CONSTABLE and GLOSS?
    Thanks, Peter and Brum.

  55. In my experience, “catatonic” just means “unconscious” or “unresponsive”. I didn’t know that it could refer to a state (called, unsurprisingly, “catatonia”) involving muscular rigidity. But it can, so the clue is fine, and I learned something today.

    I enjoyed this puzzle a great deal. I particularly liked the easy-to-miss definition in 5ac (SECULAR), and 27dn (MARBLES) raised a smile.

  56. Very nice puzzle and smooth. FOI LANTERN and worked counterclockwise to LOI SIDES; I usually focus on clues where I have crossers, and this time I had to do most of it on a phone which constrained me even more that way (since I was tapping the grid to see the clue instead of reading through them).

    TassieTim@24, like mrpenney@41 I’ve seen them enough not to be phased! At least once I guessed LEGATEE for the crosser and figured it was a -GHT.

    [I suspect some of the wonder about AS YET may be that it is a Negative Polarity Item? Perhaps that would explain why most of PostMark@8’s examples are negative adjectives.]

  57. PeterO@48 – at the risk of flogging the topic to death, I take your point and agree that ‘not as yet’ implies that the event has not occurred; to me, ‘not until now’ could also mean that, or it could mean, as you say, that the event has just occurred for the first time. Context would indicate which of these were the case. So yes, while they can be synonymous, this isn’t necessarily so.

  58. Thank you for the explanations which I needed for every clue bar TOMBSTONE.

    5a – why is the “tip” of SOLVER’S R as opposed to S?

    15a – CHAR surely means burn/singe….or tea? How does DAILY connect?

  59. Steffen @58:

    “Solver’s tip” would usually be S (the left end of solver), but there’s no rule that says it can’t be R (the right end). The setter was being sneaky.

    CHAR (often more fully charwoman or charlady) can mean, in British English, a woman who is hired to clean one’s house. DAILY can have the same meaning. Neither term is present in American English, and as I understand it, neither is especially common these days in Britain either. Anyway, store that one (char = daily) in your file, because it comes up probably about once a month.

  61. Steffen@58 –
    5a – it’s ‘tip’ of SOLVER (‘solver’s tip’) – and could be either S or R; in this case it’s R as SECULAS isn’t a word
    15a – CHAR can be a contraction of ‘charwoman’ i.e. a woman who comes to one’s house to do chores such as cleaning etc.; DAILY is another informal word for such a person even if they don’t actually come in every day. (Both words have been in use since times when it would always be assumed the person would be female.)
    (Beaten to it by mrpenney)

  63. Thanks PeterO and Brummie.

    Very much enjoyed this so carried on today to fall short in the top right by the clever definition in 5 amongst a couple of others.

    I am one of those who has a small gripe about “daily = char” (even though I know it), as I think it is exclusionary to new solvers. Hardly anyone uses the word daily to mean cleaner anymore, let alone char(woman) and probably haven’t for 50+ years. So not only is it an unknown synonym, it’s two unknown synonyms for the word you do know (cleaner). It only exists on in crossword land making it a much much easier clue for experienced setters than newbies, even if they have figured the construction.

  64. The point about ‘daily’ is that it refers to a servant who is not living in your house. So as it originates from a time when a lot of people had live-in servants it’s really rather antique.

  65. Very enjoyable puzzle. Brummie is one of our faves. Couldn’t parse chaotic. I like the use of old-fashioned words – learning something new or digging something out from the recesses of my brain.
    Steffen@58 – keep at it! 😊

  66. I just finished this one, in the Guardian Weekly. Took me a few days…
    I’m sure nobody will see this comment, but many thanks to PeterO for explaining a couple of the clues that I’d got, but didn’t really understand! So glad this community exists.
    Best wishes, Nic

  67. Completed this delightful puzzle. Last one in was my favourite, MARBLES. TOMBSTONE, very funny (over my dead body!)

    BUCHAREST, I was trying to work BRACE (pair) into the answer before the penny dropped

    Dr. WhatsOn@1, “think of a synonym and perform an operation on it” is not in the same league as “think of a synonym and mix up the letters”. 3d THERM is the former and completely fair. I do like your concept of “conservation of difficulty”, though, and will look for an opportunity to bring that up again! Wordplay that might be considered borderline unfair could be acceptable if the overall difficulty of the clue is low

    mrpenney@41 has addressed DRAUGHT for North Americans — a double-whammy for both wordplay and definition

    NicB@66, Yes I did see your comment! I’m sure nobody will see this comment!

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