Guardian Cryptic 26147 Pasquale

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Quite a straightforward puzzle, with just a little more time required for parsing a couple.  Thanks to Pasquale.  There is a pair of twin answers which seemed to promise a theme, but it fizzled out.  Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links to the puzzle. Please enclose any comments on them in double brackets. Thank you.]]

Across

5 Star getting votes of the top people, sign of something wrong (6)

POLLUX : POLL(the result of the votes in an election) + U(letter signifying the upper class;top people) + X(the mark to indicate something is incorrect).

Answer: A star in the constellation Gemini.

6 Flirt in game, not right (6)

COQUET : “croquet”(a game played on a lawn, with balls, hoops and mallets) minus(not) “r”(abbrev. for “right”).

Answer: To flirt, from the French for, literally, a little cock (the male feathered fowl).

9 Composer with second-rate skill “satisfactory” (6)

BARTOK : B(letter signifying “second-rate”, as opposed to “A”class) + ART(a skill) + OK(satisfactory, probably an abbreviation of “orl korrect”, a humorous form of “all correct”).

Answer: Béla, Hungarian composer.

10 Wretched home plant all stunted (8)

INFERNAL : IN(at home) + FERN(any of various plants, one characteristic of which is reproduction by spores) + “all” minus its last letter(stunted).

11 What’s less than blaze, a little fire (4)

ZEAL : Hidden in(What’s less than) “blaze, a little “.

Defn: An intense passion;ardour that figuratively burns.

12 Waltz rhythm conveyed by Scott trumpeter? (6,4)

TRIPLE TIME : “ttt”(triple the abbrev. for “time”, consecutively) hidden in(conveyed by) “Scott trumpeter “.

13 Supporters stupefied inside — old-fashioned types (4,7)

BACK NUMBERS : BACKERS(supporters) containing(… inside) NUMB(stupefied;with senses or faculties dulled).

Defn: Persons or things considered out-of-date;old-fashioned.

18 A brother we found devastated by conflict (3,4,3)

THE BOER WAR : Anagram of(found devastated) A BROTHER WE.

Answer:  Actually 2 wars between the British Empire and the South African Boer settlers of Dutch descent.  The 2nd saw one of the first organised genocides in Africa by a European power.

21 Hack wants initial hundred quid, maybe (4)

CHEW : HEW(to hack;to chop) placed after(wants initial, in an across clue) C(Roman numeral for a hundred).

Defn. & Answer: A piece of tobacco suitable for chewing.  You don’t have to smoke it for it to kill you.

22 Like some insects snug in grass? (8)

SWARMING : WARM(snug;comfortably warm, as in “snug under a blanket”) contained in(in) SING(like “to grass”, to act as an informer;to tell on someone, especially to the police).

23 Fine isn’t stopping bad boy, ultimately (6)

DAINTY : AIN’T(non-standard form of “isn’t”, except perhaps in some dialects) contained in(stopping) the last letters respectively of(ultimately) “bad boy ”

24 Harshness voiced by fraudster? (6)

RIGOUR : Homophone of(voiced by) “rigger”;one who falsifies, eg. financial accounts;a fraudster.

25 Conservative newspaper proprietor once a star (6)

CASTOR : C(abbrev. for a member of the British Conservative party) + ASTOR(William or Waldorf or David, in succession, once owners of The Observer newspaper).

Answer: A star in the constellation Gemini.

Down

1 Several small vessels to fail badly crossing lakes (8)

FLOTILLA : Anagram of(badly) TO FAIL containing(crossing) L,L(2 x the abbrev. for “lake”).

2 Sloppy food? Get rid of it, we say (6)

JUNKET : Homophone of(we say) “junk it”(get rid of it).

Answer: A dessert made of flavoured curd – which may be described as a custard or soft flavoured cheese but not as watery and unappetising as slop – probably.

3 Where you may see many a sporty drinker and driver? (4,4)

GOLF CLUB : Double defn: 1st: Where a sportsman may get a drink as well a round of golf; and 2nd: An example of which;? is the driver, which a golfer might use to drive off the tee.

4 Expression of disapproval about upsetting sin — guns out of here? (6)

TURRET : TUT(short for “tut-tut”, an exclamation of disapproval) containing(about) reversal of(upsetting) ERR(to sin).

5 Energy input to something growing in the earth? (6)

PLANET : E(abbrev. for “energy” in physics) contained in(input to) PLANT(a growing something).

Answer: An example;? of which is the earth.

7 What’s distressing volunteers protecting room full of gold? (6)

TRAUMA : TA(abbrev. for the British Territorial Army, made up of volunteers) containing(protecting) [ RM(abbrev. for “room”) containing(full of) AU(the chemical symbol for the element gold) ].

8 See one old woman in game win lousy money that could be better (7,4)

MINIMUM WAGE : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + MUM(an old woman, married to Dad, one’s old man) contained in(in) anagram of(lousy) GAME WIN.

14 Place I look to ascend, given encouragement to endure (4,2,2)

KEEP IT UP : Reversal of(to ascend, in a down clue) [ PUT(to place) + I + PEEK(to look quickly or furtively) ].

15 New price set to generate income (8)

RECEIPTS : Anagram of(New) PRICE SET.

16 Demonstrate, wanting Head of State to tumble down (6)

SHOWER : SHOW(to demonstrate) plus(wanting) ER(abbrev. for “Elizabeth Regina”, head of state of the UK).

17 Aircraft’s required course from very small city on hill (6)

VECTOR : V(abbrev. for “very”) + EC(the London postal code which includes much of the small City of London) placed above(on, in a down clue) TOR(a hill, especially a bare rocky one).

19 Fabric such as nude will hide (6)

BAREGE : BARE(nude) containing(will hide) EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”;for example;such as).

Answer: A fabric woven from silk or cotton and wool, named after Bareges, a French town where it was originally made.

20 This plan again upset prison guard (6)

REDRAW : Reversal of(upset) WARDER(a prison guard).

Answer: To draw up, say, a plan again (or differently). I’m unable to reconcile the verb answer with the defn. “Plan again” (verb) would be grammatically compatible with the answer, in which case “This” is superfluous. Or even “This plan”=”Redraw plan”, but “again” is then superfluous.

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 Fandango girls        

33 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26147 Pasquale”

  1. Thanks Scchua and Pasquale

    Pretty straightforward after a hesitant start. I missed the parsing of 12a.
    My printed version has ‘head of Sate’ in 16d which was a bit off-putting at first.

  2. Thanks to blogger and setter. I had “Head of Sate” online as well.

    [[Picture 2 is the Rape of the Daughters of Leuccipus by Castor and POLLUX. No, I didn’t know this and thought first of Lucretia or the Sabine Women and only hit upon the answer browsing “Rape of …” paintings. #3 does not display. #5 looks like Edward Woodward in the Equalizer, though I am amazed to remember this as I think I only watched 2 episodes about 20 years ago before deciding it was rubbish. I cannot find any connection to the puzzle, though. #6 is a pair of Flamingos, of course, though any connection likewise eludes me.]]

  3. Thank you for the blog.

    A relatively benign puzzle by Pasquale’s standards which I found quite humorous. I especially liked the symmetrically placed twins, the TTT device and CHEW (I keep forgetting about that meaning of quid). Plus my first ever pangram spot which helped with ZEAL.

    Thanks Pasquale.

  4. Thanks scchua and Pasquale
    I didn’t parse TRIPLE TIME, and I found the SW difficult (the four “mini-puzzle” format didn’t help). I also had to use electronic help to get BAREGE, though I should have managed that more easily, as it is named after a village in the Pyrenees that I have visited.
    Having Sate in the printed version, I checked it online – same there! Oh well, I suppose it is the Grauniad.
    I thought “wretched” was a rather distant definition for INFERNAL.
    ZEAL was my favourite – very well hidden.

  6. All o.k.today, but I missed the pangram of course. I also liked the Castor and Pollux device. Didn’t know ‘barege’, but it was clear from the wordplay. As far as 20d is concerned, I think it works if you imagine the word ‘means’ inserted in the clue – to read “This (means) plan again, upset prison guards”.
    I’ll think about the pictures, but doubt that I’ll get anywhere.

  7. Than you Pasquale and scchua, and a Happy New Year to you both.

    [[I’m missing pictures 1, 4 & 5. 6 looks like Greek national costume, which could be made of barege.]]

  8. Despite a bad start (I had GAMINE for 6 but saw the error once I realised 7 could only be TRAUMA), I found this fairly gentle for a Pasquale. As usual there were a couple of unfamiliar words – QUID as tobacco (my last in) and BAREGE. Thanks for the parsing of TRIPLE TIME.

  9. Thanks Pasquale and Scchua
    Very enjoyable. Usually struggle with the Don but found this much kinder. In 17 parsed ‘small’ as indicating V for VERY followed by EC for City of London, any views?

  10. [[Ian SW3, HKColin, tykeitfromme, I’ve re-pasted the pics that weren’t displaying. CASTOR and POLLUX are right, and so are the flamingo croquet mallets.]]

  11. I knew about the Victor V-bomber aircraft so spent ages trying to make IC a small city and required course and to find some way to equate LIP with QUID for 17d and 21a. Often find that a wrong one like this that you can’t parse can blind me to something that should be obvious for ages, then end up kicking myself. Thanks Pasquale and Scchua.

  12. 20d ‘This plan again’ works if read as an instruction to someone making a map, ie ‘Redraw!’ Thanks Pasquale and sschua. Lovely puzzle.

  14. I can’t often post on here as I rarely attempt a puzzle on the day it’s published – it just happened that this morning I printed off puzzles for the last week and this one was on top of the pile as we sat down for lunch.

    Didn’t take that long (I seem to remember the last Pasquale we did was a lot trickier) and I guessed it might be a pangram early on after getting ZEAL and POLLUX. Thought we might be in for a theme after getting CASTOR and given the grid.

    I actually read 16D as “Head of State” until I looked more carefully. Didn’t know BAREGE (there are so many words for fabrics) but it was clear from the wordplay. Didn’t parse 12A. SW corner trickiest and LOI 24A.

  15. Lost the thread after being interrupted by British Gas asking for a meter reading. 16d threw me too. Head of Sate. 🙁

  16. Thanks scchua and Pasquale.

    RE 13ac. I took the BACK NUMBERS to be previous editions of a newspaper, hence “old(-fashioned, ie. “made”) types(print)” 🙂

  18. Brain gone to mush; failed miserably to complete this. Thanks anyway Don & scchua – I’ll try the quiz instead.

    [[#1 is Eva BARTOK
    #3 is from ‘Paint Your Wagon’ but I don’t see the link
    #4 is from COQUET Island (of course!)
    #5 is Margo and her sisters from ‘Despicable Me’… but I don’t see the link
    #6 are Greek dancers, perhaps in TRIPLE TIME??
    #7 as IanSW3 says is Edward Woodward in the Equalizer, but the connection is again not apparent]]

  19. [[Yes Robi that’s Eva on the right – I don’t think any relation of the composer. #6 are Greek dancers and TRIPLE TIME, but what’ s the connection?]]

  24. As others have already noted, this was on the benign side for a Pasquale puzzle. Count me as another who got BAREGE from the wordplay, and CHEW and ZEAL were my last two in.

    At 6ac I didn’t know the verb COQUET, but it was an easy enough construction from both the wordplay and the noun “coquette”, a word which, to me at least, perfectly describes the young Isabelle Adjani.

  27. Slow to start but gained momentum. Like most didn’t know the fabric and was put off by the typo in 16d. Getting there!

  28. Thanks Pasquale and scchua

    Although was able to finish this quicker than normal, it didn’t feel much easier than the Don’s normal puzzle – the mandatory new word (for me anyway) came in the shape of BAREGE and needed help to find it. Was another who missed the clever TRIPLE TIME parsing

    Had recognized the pangram early enough but forgot about the Y in DAINTY and that held me up when solving the SW corner (looking for a Y to go in) where I finished with RIGOUR the last in.

  29. Re 20d

    This seems to work as “this ‘plan again’ (as opposed to e.g. recast, redesign, reorganise etc) upset prison guard”.

  30. tupu@29 and George Clements@6, sure, it works as “this means/is/= plan again” but why include the “this” when it works without it, with “upsets” instead of “upset”?

    [[robi and grandpuzzler: pic2 Those are the fandango dancers from “Paint Your Wagon”, and the fandango is in triple time.]]

  32. Hi schuua
    Thanks. I don’t particularly like the clue, but my point for what it’s worth is that the ‘this’ can be thought to specify which ‘plan again’ (i.e. ‘redraw’ as opposed to others such as ‘recast’) upsets ‘warder’. There are many possible answers but only this one upsets ‘warder’.

  33. tupu @32

    I finally see the point you are making and yes it now makes sense and is not so clunky.

    However, as I’m sure you realise, this construction could be applied to almost any definition in almost any clue. i.e. ‘Definition wordplay’ becomes ‘”This” defintion wordplay’ to give the same clue with an extraneous “this” which actually doesn’t add anything.

    I might condone this if the “this” improved the surface but in this case it actually makes the surface worse!

    Sorry about the number od “this”es in here! 🙂

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