Guardian 26,002 – Picaroon

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A nice variety of clueing devices in this puzzle from Picaroon, with some great surface readings, and also a range of levels of difficulty. I got perhaps half a dozen answers on my first pass, and the rest yielded at a steady rate – just about right for a weekday, I thought. Thanks to Picaroon.

 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. KISS AND MAKE UP KISS (rock group of the 1970s) AND (with) MAKE-UP (means to go glam), definition “bring harmony back”
10. ROUNDSMAN GROUNDSMAN (who tends to the pitch) less its opening letter
11. DELHI H in DELI. The current capital of India is actually New Delhi – my knowledge of Indian history is not great, but I think plain Delhi was the capital at one point
12. TODDY DD (Doctor of Divinity) in TOY (trifle)
13. REGULATOR Reverse of ROT (go off) A LUGER (pistol)
14. ANTIOCH ANTI (not for) + O (nothing) + CH[urch]
16. RIVETER T[ax] E[vasion] in RIVER (the Amazon is an example) , with reference to the recent scandals about the tax affairs of Amazon (the online retailer)
18. GO DUTCH GO (leave) + DUTCH (slang for “wife”)
20. INSULAR URINALS*
21. LITHESOME L[ight] I[nfantry] + THE SOM[M]E
23. POINT IN (modish, fashionable) in POT (grass, marijuana)
24. VERSO V + SORE*
25. LEADING ON DINGO in LEAN (which meat can be)
26. MIXED METAPHOR HOMER APT is an anagram of METAPHOR, so it could be clued as a MIXED METAPHOR
Down
2. INUNDATED NUN (chaste woman) + DATE (partner) in ID (prinitive urges, as in Freudian psychology)
3. SUDSY Alternate letters of YeS iD gUeSs, reversed
4. NOMARCH “NO MARCH” – and a Nomarch was an Egyptian provincial ruler
5. MANAGER NAG (horse) in REAM< Coach=manager as in football teams
6. KID GLOVES G[overnment] LOVE (zero) in KIDS (jokes)
7. UNLIT UN LIT is French for “a bed”, which a hotel room may contain
8. DR STRANGELOVE STRANGE (rum) L[itre] in DROVE (forced). Dr Strangelove (among other parts) was played by Peter Sellers in Stanley Kubrick’s black comedy of the same name. (“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here: this is the War Room!”)
9. MIRROR WRITING [Daily] MIRROR (British tabloid newspaper) + homophone of “righting” (“reporter’s correcting”)
15. ON THE MOVE NOT* + ME< (compiler) in HOVE
17. TALKING TO L in TAKING TO (becoming fond of)
19. HOODLUM LOUD* in HOM[e]
20. INEXACT N[ouvelle] in I EX-ACT
22. TARSI [s]TAR + SI, though this is the chemical symbol for the element Silicon, not the compound(s) Silicone – a shame, as Silicon would have worked almost as well in the clue
23. PRIMP PR (media manipulation) + IMP (rogue)

26 comments on “Guardian 26,002 – Picaroon”

  1. Thanks Andrew & Picaroon. We enjoyed this too, but our only quibble was 19D – is a punk really a hoodlum?
    We also had a real chuckle over 7 D un lit!

  2. Thanks for the blog, Andrew, and Picaroon for a fun puzzle.

    I also laughed at UNLIT and MIXED METAPHOR is excellent.

    DR STRANGELOVE also raised a smile, after I’d dismissed pictures of those ladies with torches who used to sell choc ices.

    And I liked the ‘not for nothing’ in ANTIOCH – and the very precise definition: ‘And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch’. [Acts 11:26]

  3. Thanks Andrew and Picaroon; nice to have some success today having only got half-way yesterday! Nice puzzle.

    Shirley @1: I think ‘punk’ in the American 50s movie sense works. The British pop-cultural sense probably isn’t what we want.

  5. Thanks Andrew and Picaroon

    An enjoyable puzzle with lots of amusing clues and impressively few unusual words.

    I liked 10a, 20a, 26a, 8d, and lots of others.

    As Andrew says, a good level of difficulty for a weekday.

  6. Thanks Andrew. I agree, this was the Goldilocks of just right difficulty, in quality and pleasure, and time at it. I’m sure Picaroon (to whom many thanks) was more than aware – re 26 – that Homer Simpson was the doyen of mixed metaphors, eg “these people are the glue that holds together the gears of our society.”

  8. Excellent puzzle – perhaps a bit less daunting than I expect from Picaroon?

    Also thanks to molonglo @6 – I wondered about the Simpsons for 26a, but don’t know the series in detail. Your explanation converts this into a brilliant clue!

    rhotician @7 – I agree. Surely this is the convention?

  9. Thanks Picaroon for some beautiful surfaces.

    Thanks Andrew; this was difficult for me. I agree that 13 seems wrong: ‘from the east’ would have worked, I think.

    I particularly liked ROUNDSMAN, RIVETER and MIXED METAPHOR.

  10. Thanks, Andrew

    Another pleasingly piratical puzzle. I particularly liked the surfaces: 2d was a favourite for this reason. And of course the reverse clue at 26a was a winner for me.

    Pity about the ‘silicone’ = SI in 22d because the surface is splendid, and about ‘east’ in 13a (going West with a gun makes more sense anyway). But these hardly spoiled a most enjoyable solve.

  12. Some edits require d in a good puzzle. I liked MIXED METAPHOR, now mayb ea standard trick in the anagas dept!! But some good things.

    Rowly (back from The Cotswlods).

  13. Thanks Andrew.

    My solving brain does seem to work a bit differently at the end of the day (as it is here) but I can’t remember the last time I had so many clues filled in first and parsed afterwards – perhaps Picaroon needs to make his definitions a little less transparent?

    Mind you, everything still got glued up because my original solution to 12ac was TOkaY.

  14. By the way although it was my favourite clue, nitpicking, is an UNLIT room shadowy? Shadowed perhaps?

  15. Agree with everybody, a nice range of difficulty and great surfaces. Good not to be overtaxed (not in the Amazonian sense, of course) in the heat.

    My brain must be hard-wired to reverse words when east/west appear, I never noticed the error in 13 till I read the blog. This, 8, 16, 7 among my favourites.

  16. Thanks to Andrew for the blog.

    On 10 I thought of all those who make deliveries: bowler, postman, obstetrician but it took me a long time to spot that postman was nearly there!

    On 16 I disagree. A bolt has a screw thread but a rivet does not. I am sure with a little extra work Picaroon could have found a better definition.

  17. The two slips are minor blemishes on a good puzzle, but surely they should have been picked up before publication.

    Molonglo @6 – Your example of Homer Simpson’s mixed metaphor reminds me that many years ago a Business Efficiency Exhibition was held in London, for which some bright spark came up with the logo of three gears, each meshing with the other two. The problem is, of course, that such an arrangement is locked immovably.

  18. chas @16, sorry but I don’t get your objection. In Chambers, in place 3, they define bolt as “a heavy screw” but even then continue with “..or pin with a head”. All the other relevant definitions would be perfectly OK for a rivet.

  19. @16,@18

    Yes, a door bolt does not have a screw. A better objection would be that a bolt and a rivet are not alike enough to be synonymous. But Picaroon has carefully based the clue on bolt and rivet as verbs rather than nouns.

  20. This took me a bit longer than I hoped, but I always enjoy a puzzle when I think I have parsed all of the clues! My favourites in this puzzle were 26a MIXED METAPHOR, 8d DR STRANGELOVE, 13a REGULATOR & 23d PRIMP.

    Thanks for the blog, Andrew.

  21. Thanks, Andrew and Picaroon.

    This was a good one, but it took me a couple of goes to finally nail it (which is unusual for me, because I have a short attention span). I thought there was some tricky wordplay here, particularly for clues like INEXACT and KID GLOVES.

    HOODLUM for ‘punk’? Think Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, I guess.

  24. I/We didn’t notice the ‘east’ mistake.
    I/We also were a bit uncomfortable with the abrupt ‘no end’ at the end of 19d.
    Thought it might be due to interference by the editor?

    But, but ,but.
    In my (and perhaps, our) opinion Picaroon is one of the best setters around nowadays.
    Others might say he’s just one that suits my taste.
    Well, fair enough then.

    Yesterday’s Boatman was a very fine crossword, but today’s puzzle is much more in balance.
    One might perhaps quibble about certain definitions (as some did above) but on the whole the cryptic grammar is right, everything’s precise while at the same time the surfaces are very nice and natural (15d !).

    Immensely enjoyable.
    Completely up my street.

  25. Very enjoyable crossword from Picaroon again. Perhaps not quite as difficult as usual but still a good hour.

    I too didn’t notice the 13A misdirection 🙂

    No problems with 16A as SOED has

    rivet ?r?v?t ? noun1. ME.
    …
    2 A short nail or bolt for fastening together metal plates etc., the headless end of which is beaten out or pressed down after insertion. lME.
    ….

    Thanks to Andrew and Picaroon

  26. Hi Andrew,

    You need to change the number in the title of this post from “16,002” to “26,002”. I had a hard time finding this post because of the error.

    Thanks for posting the explanations for the Guardian puzzles! My husband and I would be lost sometimes without them.

    Sincerely,
    Jean

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