Guardian 29,771 – Brummie

by

Thanks to Brummie for a fun puzzle…

… where I was helped by spotting the SEASIDE theme early on: we can go to the BEACH at a RESORT on the COAST, stay in a B AND B with a fierce LANDLADY, go on a DODGEM CAR, have some ICE CREAM and ROCK, collect SHELLs, perhaps wear a PANAMA hat, and make a SANDCASTLE with a BUCKET and SPADE. (And maybe see the CURVATURE of the earth when a BOATLOAD goes over the horizon). An impressive set of thematic answers.

 
Across
9 BEACH Composer going round end of The Strand (5)
[th]E in BACH
10 CURVATURE Deviation from a straight – old city tax to be invested in remedy (9)
UR (old city) + VAT (tax) in CURE
11 DODGEM CAR Odd renovated jet, say, on estate, possibly as fun ride (6,3)
ODD* + GEM (e.g. jet) + CAR (e.g. an estate car)
12 DAKAR Doctor also called inside city (5)
AKA (also known as) in DR
13 SEASIDE At which Blackpool is the main team (7)
SEA (main) + SIDE (team)
15 TWAITES Shads sweat it out (7)
(SWEAT IT)* – twaites are a kind of shad (fish)
17 ABYSS Fool around next to Gulf (5)
BY (next to) in ASS
18 MAR Drive home over a month (3)
Reverse of RAM
20 TABLE Propose a pill when temperature’s taken (5)
TABLET less the second T. Table has almost the exact opposite meaning in the US, where it’s “to postpone discussion for some time or indefinitely”
22 EMPEROR Eastern politician wrong to eject Republican leader (7)
E + MP + E[R]ROR
25 EYEBALL Confront detective at party (7)
EYE (detective – private eye) + BALL (party)
26 B AND B Digs secondary rock group? (1,3,1)
The primary group of rocks could be BAND A, so…
27 SQUARE LEG Old-fashioned stage’s position on field (6,3)
SQUARE (old-fashioned) + LEG (stage)
30 LEMON DROP Sweet old men, unkempt with tie cut off (5,4)
(OLD MEN)* + ROP[e]
31 COAST Succeed effortlessly when in bed (5)
AS (when) in COT
Down
1 ABED Live in a dream, initially sleeping? (4)
BE (live) in A D[ream]
2 LANDLADY Country boy at day’s end: traditional scourge of 13ac/26ac guests? (8)
LAND (country) + LAD + [da]Y – referring to the traditional fierce landlady of a SEASIDE B AND B
3 SHOE Ball caught by female trainer? (4)
O (ball) in SHE
4 ICE CREAM Treat unnamed Crimean wounded outside the church (3,5)
CE in anagram of CRIMEAN less N
5 DRY ROT Politician on way back – threat to the cabinet? (3,3)
Reverse of TORY + RD (road, way)
6 SANDCASTLE Short-lived construction scandal set to blow up (10)
(SCANDAL SET)*
7 BUCKET It contains rain a lot (6)
Double definition
8 JEER Jack, always against leaving scoff (4)
J[ack] + EVER less V (versus, against)
13 SPADE Suit-shortening tool (5)
Shortened SPADE[s]. I was going complain that the two meanings were the same, but I see that the suit comes from Spanish spada, meaning a shield</s? sword
14 INSCRIBING Etching: ‘In Bed over Sunday in Georgian Capital’ (10)
S[unday] in IN CRIB + IN + G[eorgian] – no need to know about either Tbilisi or Atlanta
16 SHELL Hull put under fire (5)
Double definition
19 RE-EQUIPS Observer upset about crack supplies again (2-6)
QUIP in reverse of SEER
21 BOATLOAD Love mixing with a bad lot? Just what the cruise company wants! (8)
Anagram of O (love) + A BAD LOT
23 PANAMA Hat, one switched between parents (6)
Reverse of AN (one) in PA + MA
24 RESORT Holiday spot needing to make new arrangements (6)
To make new arrangements is to RE-SORT
26 BALL Dance and cry loudly to audience (4)
Sounds like “bawl” – shame about the duplication with 25 across
28 ROCK A sticky sweet? (4)
Two definitions in one: seaside rock is sticky (i.e. tacky), and also comes in the form of a stick
29 GATE Water etc with this added would create a scandal (4)
Reference to the WaterGATE scandal, and others named with the same suffix

65 comments on “Guardian 29,771 – Brummie”

  1. New for me: twaite shad fish for 7ac.

    Favourites: B AND B, DAKAR, SEASIDE.

    I totally forgot to look for a theme! Apart from what Andrew mentioned, I also see (beach) BALL.

  2. Well that was surprisingly straightforward with a nice theme that sprung out quite quickly. Lovely surfaces as ever. TWAITES was new but gettable. Nice clue for Blackpool where the football team are known as the SEASIDE(RS) or Tangerines.

    Ta Brummie & Andrew.

  3. Nice crossword, but it’s certainly fortunate for setters that if you look hard enough you can almost always find an obscure fish to fill a tricky light.

  4. Re 28d, due to the question mark I reckon only the second def applies. A lot of sweets are sticky after all. Cheers and thanks for an enjoyable tuesday xword.

  6. Thanks Andrew. This was fun.
    I suspect Brummie was thinking musical bands rather than geology at 26a, but it works either way.

  7. I thought B AND B was referring to musical rock groups but both work. Ah, we crossed DuncT @6. Good spot moh @5.

  8. Thanks Brummie and Andrew
    I think he must have painted himself into a corner to need TWAITES – I only knew it as what the locals refer to Thwaites Brewery as!
    A shame BALL for dance/party occurs twice.
    Favourite B AND B. I took it as pop groups too.

    [ROCK reminds me of a joke oft repeated by young children:
    What’s brown and sticky?
    A stick!]

  9. Found this a lot of fun too. Last ones in SHELL, EYEBALL and REEQUIPS. And I do like to be beside the SEASIDE. Even Blackpool…

  10. All good fun.
    5d Couldn’t help thinking politician on way ‘up’ might be better both for surface and direction in a down clue.
    Thanks to Brummie and Andrew.

  11. Oh dear, another theme I missed.

    I wasn’t sure at first whether 18a was going to be RAM or MAR as it’s a bit ambiguous. Didn’t think much of the clue for BUCKET — and your underlines are not quite accurate, Andrew. Both shads and TWAITES were new to me.

    I don’t always manage to complete Brummie’s but was on his wavelength today, and enjoyed many great clues, thanks Brummie & Andrew.

  14. GDU @11, I think Andrew has the correct underlinings for BUCKET – it’s a container, so it contains (water or whatever), and bucket as a verb can mean to rain a lot. But yes, it could also be read as “it contains water” and “a lot”, ie bucketloads. TWAITES were new to me too, though not shad – “why ask if shad do it? Waiter bring me shad roe…”

  15. Yes, RR @3, with those crossers the new fish had to be the unlikely-looking twaite. As I’m fond of saying, just about anything pronounceable will be one 🙂

  16. Miserable@14, yes, I guess so. I take it back. Yes, I read the two definitions as “it contains rain” and “a lot”. But my interpretation probably doesn’t hold water. 🙂

    Sorry, Andrew.

  18. Very impressive gridfill with the number of themers but clearly the tide came in and trapped Brummie with “twaites”. A bit of editing would have helped a lot here – “ball” being repeated, “bed” appearing in the last across clue and then the answer to the first down clue would be easy to fix. I did not like MAR/RAM at all. I don’t think it is ambiguous – it can only be RAM because MAR is not a month, it’s an abbreviation of a month. That would be fine as part of the wordplay (where abbreviations are subbed for words all the time) but as a definition I think that’s wrong without an indicator, just as we would expect for a foreign word.

    Anyhow, grumpiness aside, good fun. I’m disappointed he didn’t get “bloody freezing water” in there somewhere…

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  22. I’m less than keen on the double use of BALL, with pretty much the same sense in both instances. Inelegant, it seems to me.

  23. 9 across also references a second composer – Amy Beach, an American composer. Probably accidentally, but there! Her Gaelic Symphony was the first composed and published by an American woman.

  24. For once got the theme straight off with BEACH plus England’s current heatwave. Pleasantly cool here in Ireland.
    Fun puzzle. Thanks both.

  25. Most enjoyable.

    Did anyone else wonder why the setter bothered with removing the ‘v’ from ever when eer is something of a crossword staple? Perhaps it simply helped the surface.

  26. Arjeyeski@23 Amy Beach came to mind as soon as I saw strand. When I first heard of her she was known by her husband’s name – Mrs H.H.Beach. I’ve got her piano concerto and some of her solo piano works as well. Worth investigating.

  27. I’ve never been there but DAKAR looks to boast a wonderful SEASIDE . This brought back many happy memories of Blackpool holidays, thank you Brummie and Andrew

  29. Found this easier than yesterday’s. I think Brummie has become more prolific and somewhat easier since Picaroon departed. Wondered if we might be on for a pangram when J, K and Q all popped up. Favourite today was BUCKET, a superb dd.

  30. Doh! All the answers but didn’t look for the (tiptop) theme. Ravenrider have you never had twaites and chips?

  31. Lazy days at the SEASIDE but hopefully not with a dragon B-AND-B LANDLADY. Impressive grid-filling for an enjoyable solve. I particularly liked LEMON DROP and DRY ROT. I DNK SHAD (not Cliff Richards Shadows then) or TWAITES. Tractus would have been an alternative but just as abstruse.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  32. An online thesaurus gives suit and scale as synonyms. A scaler is a tool used by dentists. Can the answer to 13d be SCALE as well as SPADE? OK, it doesn’t fit the theme but still valid?

  33. Nice puzzle. Liked SHOE

    I was wondering about the two ways of associating BAND and “rock group” discussed here, since that would seem to permit a very compact cryptic clue, which I’ve never seen, or rather, don’t remember ever seeing. So asked a friend who is a Distinguished Professor of geology if the terms are used synonymously in her field, and she said No. Pity that. So Brummie must have had the musical sense only in mind.

  34. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t like 18a. I don’t think mar is acceptable as a month in an answer. Fine in a cryptic definition but not an answer. Otherwise enjoyed the crossword, fairly easy.

  35. Very nice! Particular favorites for the compact wordplay of DRY ROT, ABYSS, and COAST, and BAND B as well; not that there was anything wrong with the rest! I didn’t pick up how pervasive the beach theme was.

    A DNF because I had LEER as jack = lever minus the V, though scoff and leer aren’t really synonyms at all and I wondered what “always” was doing; and also RICE for the sticky sweet, because of the sticky rice served as a desert in Thai restaurants (and perhaps also in Thailand). Ah well.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew!

    [For an American equivalent to 27ac, how about: Pants over shirt in position (9)? A down clue. May have been done!]

  36. BEACH and BLACKPOOL, the place of my birth*, gave me the theme straight away but I wasn’t through this quickly. The theme helped me to get ROCK and B AND B.

    I would generally refer to DODGEMS or bumper CARS, but not a DODGEM CAR. The 3 and 6 made me think of Blackpool’s iconic Big Dipper, but they were the wrong way around. The theme became more generic after that; and Dakar’s really stretching it!

    Even I noticed a surfeit of balls and beds.

    Thanks Brummie and Andrew
    *Which generally tops UK stats for rates of smoking and teenage pregnancy (yes, she was).

  38. William @25. Because it is a Tuesday crossword. It seems that Monday’s and Tuesday’s cryptics are now supposed to be design for lesser mortals like me.

  39. Re Blackpool, Martin@36, I hope I wasn’t being dismissive of the seaside resort (me@9). About 20 years ago I was involved in the Disability Sport England athletics meeting held for many years at Stanley Park. The incredible Norbreck Castle Hotel managed to accessibly accommodate dozens of these athletes in their wheelchairs back then. Though the overused through floor lift was under great strain at times.
    Also found that Blackpool provided much more reasonable hotel rates than other nearby places when we attended The Open Golf at Lytham St Annes, a little way along the coast, not quite so long ago as that…

  40. Nice seasonal theme; was glad about it having just spent vacation at sea 🙂 Didn’t get a couple (didn’t know “jet” as a gemstone or ROCK sweet) and guessed the fish and SQUARE LEG from the clue, but overall very much doable. Favourites PANAMA, GATE, B AND B. Thanks Brummie and Andrew!

  41. Muffin@8 you beat me to it! T(h)waites is – or was? – brewed at Blackburn, just a (hefty) stone’s throw from Blackpool.
    Very enjoyable crossie. Thanks Brummie and Andrew.

  42. DP @41
    When I was teaching chemistry, we used to take the VIth form chemists on a guided tour of the Thwaites brewery every year. The brewery produced a wide range of other beers under licence, as well as their own brand.
    The beer still exists, but the brewery has moved out of town, I think. (I’ve lost touch since retiring.)

  44. Not at all Ronald @39. I haven’t been there in well over 40 years and I was barely there before that. The last time I tried to confirm my native credentials to a proper Blackpudlian, I messed up the term “Sandgrownian” (partly because the person who told me had got it wrong) and was rightly derided. It looks like you and Muffin have a stronger claim to the area than I do.

  45. [Martin @44
    Apart from a couple of concerts at the Grand Theatre, the only times I have ever been to Blackpool were to take rugby sides. I have played golf at Lytham and St. Annes, though.]

  46. Thanks both,
    A colleague and I were once entertained at a posh restaurant in Bordeaux. Being a fisheries economist, he ordered shad. He was very disappointed as it tasted ‘muddy’ and was very boney.

    It must be very rare to get dry rot in a piece of furniture.

  47. [Tyngewick @46
    I was going to say that “muddy and bony” sounds like a freshwater fish, but Wiki tells me that shad (like salmon) return to freshwater to spawn.]

  48. Oh I do like an easy peasy write-in…
    Lots of fun. There’s also SAND SHOE as a themer. Fave was SANDCASTLE. Showed my ignorance by trying to put Samarkand into 14d. Fortunately, it didn’t fit.
    There’s also a beachy Margate in New Jersey, with an added Lucy as an attraction, which I recently heard advertised on the local radio.
    Thanks, Brum and Andrew. Hope the puzzle was composed on the beach!

  49. Thanks to Brummie and Andrew for teaching me that ROCK is to Britain’s seaside resorts what salt water taffy is to ours. Now I finally “get” the title of Graham Greene’s 1938 novel. Ida Arnold: “Bite it all the way down, you’ll still read Brighton. That’s human nature.”

  50. Loved the theme!
    It would have been great to see “chips” in there yo go with the (previously unknown) TWAITES.

  51. Muffin@47, they apparently spend a lot of time in estuaries like grey mullet, which are also often ‘muddy’; at least the ones I’ve caught and eaten were.

  53. Muffin @8.
    I just remembered the follow-up jokes to “What’s brown and sticky?”… “A stick”
    (But the second one only works when you’re saying it, not writing it, so save it for when someone asks you the first one out loud…)
    “What’s brown, sticky and smelly and sounds like a bell?” … “Dung”
    “What’s brown and smelly and comes steaming out of cows?” … “The Isle of Wight Ferry”

  56. Paddymelon @55 I think seaside landladies were notorious for the strictness of the rules and restrictions they placed on guests, for example, the times of day when they could and could not return to the premises.

  57. Blaise @ 55, I knew it as “… comes out of cows backwards”. Having never been to Cowes nor observed the phenomenon, I can’t vouch for its veracity.

  61. Thank you Bullhassocks@56. I stayed in B&Bs in the UK in the 70’s but didn’t experience that.
    I’m still intrigued as to why the LANDLADY
    Were they so stressed from running these establishments? Were they alone, widowed perhaps, trying to make a living? And maybe they had to malke the breakfast and do tbe cleaning and bedmaking etc themselves.. That would make me cranky too and want a clear space to recover and get on with the job. Not saying that’s right but “scourge” is a very strong word. Just interested.

  62. Landladies used to insist that you left the house at 9am and did not return before maybe 6pm. At a soggy British seaside resort that was a looong time to have to entertain yourself. The last thing the landlady wanted was her guests cluttering up her house during the day whilst she cleaned etc. Why were they always widows?Were they? Was it the one thing a lady with capital but no income could afford to do following the death of her husband?

    I’m afraid I laughed like a drain at the rock strata definition. It’s music!

    That was a nice puzzle that I managed to finish (with a little help).

  64. Nice puzzle with some great surfaces, giving me my second completion in a row. Missed the theme. Favourites maybe 20a TABLE, 31a COAST, 5d DRY ROT, 7d BUCKET, 19d RE-EQUIPS

    In NA we have BUMPER CARS, but I dredged DOGEM up from the recesses

    28a I also was working on RICE at first, but figured ROCK was more cryptic (stick-y)

  65. I always read the comments long after they were written, as I do the crossword when it appears in the Guardian Weekly, so not sure anyone will read this, but a couple of points about jet:

    Jet is particularly associated with Whitby, another seaside resort. (I’ve been told that it’s only found near Whitby, not sure that that is quite true)

    Secondly, jet is the fossilised wood of a particular tree, Araucaria 🙂

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