Guardian Cryptic crossword No 29,834 by Kite

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29834.

I started off at a fast pace with much of the upper half, slowed down below, and finally came to a screeching halt with 11A COMPONENT.

ACROSS
1 ATROCIOUS
Horrible US car I too exchanged (9)
An anagram (‘exchanged’) of ‘US car I too’.
6 LENS
What one needs to see clearly in European city (4)
Double definition; the ‘European city’ is in France, although there are municipalities of the same name in Belgium and Switzerland.
10 SCOUR
Briefly scrub middle of pot vigorously? (5)
An anagram (‘vigorously’) of ‘scru[b]’ minus its last letter (‘briefly’) plus O (‘middle of pOt’) with an &lit definition..
11 COMPONENT
Part of short quiz, perhaps about medical speciality (9)
Over to you: I cannot see any justifiable wordplay – at a stretch, CONT[est] might be a ‘short quiz perhaps’, but the envelope contents tell me nothing.
12 SET MENU
Little choice in this as soldiers arrange uniform clothes (3,4)
An envelope (‘clothes’) of MEN (‘soldiers’) in SET (‘arrange’) plus U (‘uniform’).
13 LASAGNE
Way to give in and make pasta (7)
An envelope (‘in’) of SAG (‘give’) in LANE (‘way’).
14 INDISPENSABLE
Inside damage hampers prison’s key (13)
An envelope (‘hampers’) of PEN’S (‘prison’s’) in IN (‘inside’) plus DISABLE (‘damage’).
17 AUDITORY CANAL
Knock out any radical listening 11 (8,5)
An anagram (‘knock’) of ‘out any radical’; ’11’ is COMPONENT, the answer to 11A.
21 GLACIER
Slippery creeper in German city colder after opening shed (7)
A charade of G (‘German’) plus LA (‘city’) plus [i]CIER (‘colder’) minus its first letter (‘after opening shed’).
22 SURNAME
Appellation of South American country that’s not independent (7)
A subtraction: SUR[i]NAME (‘South American country’) minus the I (‘that’s niot independent’).
24 ITINERANT
Travelling author is reportedly expressing anger about temperature (9)
An envelope (‘about’) of T (the first one, ‘temperature’) in I (the ‘author’ of the clue) plus INERANT, sounding like (‘reportedly’) IN A RANT (‘expressing anger’).
25 DHOBI
Asian cleaner content to mend hob initially (5)
A hidden answer (‘content to’) in ‘menD HOB Initially’. An Indian washerman.
26 MEET
Bee has to swarm around (4)
A reversal (‘around’) of TEEM (‘swarm’).
27 SPEARHEAD
Lead weapon with tip (9)
A charade of SPEAR (‘weapon’) plus HEAD (‘tip’).
DOWN
1 ASSASSIN
Butcher two turkeys at home (8)
A charade of ASS ASS (‘two turkeys’) plus IN (‘at home’).
2 ROOST
Son’s in bottom bed (5)
An envelope (‘in’) of S (‘son’) in ROOT (‘bottom’).
3 CAREERS ADVISER
One helping pupils to see arrives unexpectedly with card (7,7)
An anagram (‘unepectedly’) of ‘see arrives’ plus ‘card’.
4 OCCLUDE
Stop officer speaking as represented here (7)
A charade of OC (‘officer’ commanding) plus CLUDE, sounding like (‘speaking’) CLUED (‘as represented here’).
5 SAMPLES
Models showing more than enough onboard (7)
‘Onboard’ needs to be read as IN A SHIP: an envelope (IN) of AMPLE (‘more than enough’) in SS (A SHIP).
7 EVERGREEN
Fancy veneer over work unit is remaining fresh (9)
An envlope (‘over’) of ERG (‘work unit’) in EVREEN, an anagram (‘fancy’) of ‘veneer’.
8 SETTER
Maybe Kite’s sun gel (6)
Triple definition.
9 HORSEBACK RIDER
One who got up and chaired brokers’ assembly (9,5)
An anagram (‘assembly’) of ‘chaired brokers’).
15 DRAMATISE
Short, dull artist leaving one section for stage (9)
A charade of DRA[b] (‘dull’) minus its last letter (‘short’) plus MATIS[s]E (‘artist’) minus an S (‘leaving one section’).
16 BLUEBIRD
American winger from United blocking lively dribble (8)
An envelope (‘blocking’) of U (‘United’) in BLEBIRD, an anagram (‘lively’) of ‘dribble’).
18 THREADS
Goes through the unfinished books (7)
A charade of ‘th[e]’ minus its last letter (‘unfinished’) plus READS (‘books’, noun).
19 ROSETTE
Brunettes originally turned up, embracing prize (7)
A reversed (‘turned up’ in a down light) hidden (’embracing’) answer in ‘brunETTES ORiginally’).
20 AGEISM
Kinky male geisha not happy at first produces discrimination (6)
An anagram (‘kinky’) of M (‘male’) plus ‘geis[h]a’ minus the H (‘not Happy at first’).
23 ADORE
A pronounced opportunity for love (5)
A charade of ‘a’ plus DORE, sounding like (”pronounced’) DOOR (‘opportunuty’),

picture of the completed grid

52 comments on “Guardian Cryptic crossword No 29,834 by Kite”

  1. Re: COMPONENT I had trouble too. OneLook says COMPos are “Examinations assessing students’ academic knowledge”, which would do for quiz, plus ON for about, plus Ear, Nose and Throat. That’s the best I can do.

    Spent a while trying to justify AMORE until I saw ADORE. The rest went in without too much difficulty.

    LENS struck a chord because I just had a new one fitted this morning (cataract surgery).

    Tx

  6. Quite a workout and a very tricky one too.As everyone ,i too can’t figure out COMPONENT.Re:clue 8d,is SETTER a colloquial term for sun?

  7. 26 took an age to parse, last word in the clue was of course where I should have been looking,
    Dolt I am!

  9. For 11a I had Comp (common abbreviation of Complementary Exam, one held in special circumstances) on ENT, giving COMPONENT

  10. Very taken with the definition for GLACIER, DRAMATISE made me laugh and ROSETTE is nicely hidden.

    I agree with those seeing COMP as the ‘short quiz’, followed by ON and ENT: I have heard people talk of ‘comping magazines’ which contain loads of quizzes etc and Chambers gives comp /komp/ (informal)
    noun
    A compositor
    An accompanist
    A competition
    A complimentary ticket, etc
    A comprehensive school
    intransitive verb
    To work as a compositor
    To play an accompaniment
    To enter competitions in newspapers, magazines, etc
    comˈper noun
    A person who regularly enters competitions

    Thanks both

  11. Jay dee @6, the sun is a setter because each evening it sets. A cryptic crossword old chestnut, along the lines of flower for river …

  14. I have no idea why, but this was utterly beyond me.
    The only answer I could get was the modest anagram at 1a.
    Thanks both.

  15. I had the same parsing as everyone else for COMPONENT, but failed to parse DRAMATISE correctly – I had enough bits to put it in.

    It’s Kite. He usually has a theme, but I can’t see one. Am I missing one?

    Thank you to PeterO and Kite.

  16. I found this straightforward in places and chewier in others. I struggled to parse LASAGNE, had never heard of DHOBI, and thought the def for HORSEBACK RIDER was a little unhelpful. Faves were the lovely &lit SCOUR, GLACIER, ASSASSIN and the fun triple def SETTER.

    I had COMP for competition (potentially a quiz, though obviously not necessarily so); a standard shortening.

    Thanks both

  18. COMPONENT was, along with LASAGNE, amongst a small number I struggled to parse. Nevertheless this was at the ideal sort of level for me: accessible enough to complete, but stretching me along the way.

    A nice and satisfying end to the week.

  19. Absolutely not on Kite’s wavelength today and I progressed like a snail through treacle with much guessing and revealing of letters. The list of those I couldn’t parse is long, including INDISPENSABLE, ITINERANT, GLACIER (though I liked the definition) DRAMATISE and EVERGREEN – though I did eventually see comp-on-ENT. Kite is supposed to always have a theme, but nothing comes to mind.

  20. Difficult but quite enjoyable.

    14ac I parsed it in the same way as DR Whatson@1 and other early posters above.

    I failed to solve 6ac (never heard of this French town) and I could not fully parse 21ac, 24ac apart from I RANT = author expressing anger, and 15d.

  21. Tricky but some lovely clues including AUDITORY CANAL, GLACIER, ITINERANT, CAREERS ADVISER, OCCLUDE, HORSEBACK RIDER and SETTER. COMPONENT was loi and parsed as others have pointed out. Can’t see a theme either Shanne or gladys after a quick SCOUR.

    Ta Kite & PeterO.

  24. I struggled with this – only managed about half of it before giving up and coming here for enlightenment.
    Some clues I should have solved, but I think I was just finding it a bit of a slog and lost motivation. My bad, as they say these days.
    Thanks both.

  25. Mystified by ASS=turkey. Can anyone explain? Couldn’t parse COMPONENT either, but I see I’m not alone.

    I tend to think of HORSEBACK RIDER as an Americanism where we would say HORSE RIDER (what other part of the horse are you going to ride?), but maybe that’s just me.

  26. Very nice puzzle, so thanks to Kite and PeterO. For once, I was looking for a theme and with LENS and AUDITORY CANAL in place, I confidently thought the first part of 3d (One helping pupils …) must be CONTACT, which held me up for a while. 22a eluded me for a bizarrely long time, given how few countries in S America there are to choose from!

  28. Another doable puzzle towards the end of the week! Started off well in the SW, then virtually stopped but slowly managed to finish it; lots of anagrams helped. DHOBI and a city of LENS were new to me. Thanks Kite and PeterO for the parsing (which I needed for a few entries)!

  29. Thankyou Kite for dropping in @ 22 and 23. I was going to say that there may be fewer comments on the G site and here as would be expected and deserved for your excellent crossword, due to the Sloggers and Betters gettogether in York. Looking forward to your puzzle there, even if remotely, and after the event.

  30. My LOI was 8d, I could see Kite and sun as setters, but I’m still confused by gel. Is gelatin abbreviated gel commonly?

  32. Whij @30. I was thinking of gel as in a hair gel (as was MattS @ 31).

    Onelook gives these definitions of gel as a noun:

    ▸ noun: A semi-solid to almost solid colloid of a solid and a liquid, such as jelly, cheese or opal.
    ▸ noun: Any gel intended for a particular cosmetic use, such as for styling the hair.
    ▸ noun: A film of flexible transparent plastic (such as acetate, celluloid, or cellophane) suitable for making superimpositions or diapositives (image to overlay on other images, especially for overhead projectors); a digital virtual equivalent of this.

  33. poc@25: I’d put “ass” and “turkey” vaguely together as slightly affectionate insults for someone being a bit daft along with classics such as “plonker”. Having said that, I doubt I have ever called a person a turkey – it’s usually used for things like really bad films or products which flop.

    Struggled with this – I found quite a few connecting words were there for the surface but made little sense cryptically. “Bee *has* to swarm around” – why does “has” link the two parts? Ditto “to” in the “careers adviser” clue, “as” in “set menu” and so on. I feel a really good surface uses a link word to tell us something like “wordplay leads to/gives/is definition” or “definition from/hidden in wordplay” which these clues don’t.

    However, good fun and a nice workout for the end of the week. Thank you Kite and PeterO.

  34. Enjoyed this greatly, but had most trouble solving GLACIER, COMPONENT and OCCLUDE.
    I know next to nothing about the BLUEBIRD, but I remember being told on a visit to mid Wales in the mid 1970’s that there were only fourteen pairs of the Red KITE left in the UK. Or maybe even fewer. But apparently they’ve made a great recovery since.
    Many thanks for today’s puzzle to our own flourishing Kite, and to Peter O for the explanations…

  35. Luckily I never look for a theme – the setter needs to hit me over the head with it, generally. Feeling pleased with myself for completing four out of five this week, and only missed the other by not knowing the word for a hen stuffed inside a duck inside a turkey. As a vegan I think I can excuse myself that one.

    I liked GLACIER and the clever &lit for SCOUR. Which reminds me, have Brillo pads been discontinued? Haven’t seen them in the shops for ages.

    Thanks to Kite (and for dropping in) and to PeterO.

  36. JOFT@33 I’m inclined to agree, although “has” can be justified as holds/contains -> is comprised of -> is constructed from, and “as” as in the guise of -> via -> from. I can’t think of an angle on “to” as a link word though.

  39. Crispy@37 & Poc@25. Chambers has horseback the back of a horse 🙄; horse-rider [no specific definition]. Nothing at all for HORSEBACK RIDER, but I guess it’s definable by extension from “a rider on horseback”. Sometimes lexicography must seem like the easiest job in the world.

  40. Crispy@37, Kite@38 and SH@39, for a laugh you might want to look at the link I left in my reply to Poc at 27.

  41. Matts@27: thanks for the link, that was amusing. Is Kite American by any chance?

    JoFT@33: It did cross my mind that ass and turkey were meant as equivalent epithets. It just didn’t seem plausible, and still doesn’t convince. Pretty weak for a crossword clue if that’s all there is to it.

  45. Generally had the same difficulty as others posting here, 75% went in tidily and a few head-scratchers to finish.

    As usual I was completely oblivious to the surroundings – normally it’s themes, but this time it was my failure to parse SETTER! One day I’ll learn to look up! 😜

  47. Something about Kite really rubs me up the right way 🙂 I absolutely loved this with multiple LOLs along the way. Had to fit the solve in around work so kept cutting things short so I could get back to it

    Super surfaces and devious definitions. I’ve decided to follow Pierre’s lead and limit earworms to the song and nothing but the song so here’s Carmen Mcrae with EVERGREEN

    Cheers K&P

  48. I didn’t think 10A “SCOUR” qualified as &lit since the definition of “scour” is hardly to “Briefly scrub” but the exact opposite. So briefly isn’t part of the definition. Scour generally means a prolonged hard abrasive scrub. Alternatively, if one scours the shops to find an item that implies a prolonged , not a brief search.
    Thanks Kite – an enjoyable solve and thanks for the blog PeterO.

  49. I might attack a pot with a scourer, only to find that what seemed initially to be a hard job required only a brief “scour” with my Brillo pad. Fanciful, I agree. Perhaps “&lit-ish” would be close enough for you, Pentman@48? Or is it “pedant man”? 😅

  50. This one took three sessions, and I just managed to complete it. A few in the top half were last to yield. LOI 13a LASAGNE, which I failed to parse, though it makes perfect sense. Favourites 11a COMPONENT (one of my last), 22a SURNAME, 26a MEET (misdirecting definition), 1d ASSASIN (great surface), 3d CAREERS ADVISER (ditto), 9d HORSEBACK RIDER (chaired brokers’ assembly)

    I couldn’t parse 14a INDISPENSABLE, as MattS@27

    10a was really mean! I had SCOUR in mind pretty much the whole time, but couldn’t parse it. Near the end the crossers forced me to enter it, and then I managed to wrap my head around it. I tend to agree with pentman@48 that it might be a bit dicey

    Thanks both

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