Guardian Cryptic N° 26,185 by Rufus

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The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26185.

A fairly typical Rufus, but showing up some of what I would regard as his weaknesses – the ambiguous answer to 2D, two essentially straight definitions (unless I am missing something) at 25A and 1D. I liked 7D and 13D

 

Across
1. Make an ad-lib? One’s better without it (9)
IMPROVISE An envelope (‘without it’) of I’S (‘one’s’) in IMPROVE (‘better’).
6. Miss having a nap on Sunday (4)
SKIP A charade of S (‘Sunday’) plus KIP (‘a nap’).
8. Start playing up after industrial action (6,2)
STRIKE UP A charade of STRIKE (‘industrial action’) plus ‘up’.
9. Well-filled vessel (6)
TANKER A slightly cryptic (filled from an oil well, say) definition.
10. Courteous staff accept it (6)
POLITE An envelope (‘accepts’) of ‘it’ in POLE (‘staff’).
11. Cat given alternative to din after midnight? (8)
TOMORROW A charade of TOM (‘cat’) plus OR (‘alternative’) plus ROW (‘din’).
12. Get off or put on the line (4,2)
HANG UP Double definition, with ‘the line’ applied to both, the first in the context of a phone call, the second of washing.
15. Delays defeats (8)
SETBACKS Double definition – two shades of meaning of the same word.
16. Neat island type of boat (8)
TRIMARAN A charade of TRIM (‘neat’) plus ARAN (‘island’).
19. Stragglers revealed in the street lights (6)
STRAYS A charade of ST (‘street’) plus RAYS (‘light’).
21. Not many virtuous? Quite a lot in fact (1,4,3)
A GOOD FEW Definition and literal interpretation.
22. Just short of a Left majority (6)
ALMOST A charade of ‘a’ plus L (‘left’) plus MOST (‘majority’).
24. Necessitate being in late, perhaps (6)
ENTAIL An anagram (‘perhaps’) of ‘in late’.
25. No end of time (8)
ETERNITY A straight definition.
26. Present her with a key (4)
HERE A charade of ‘her’ plus E (‘a key’).
27. So greatly tempted, gotinto debt (9)
OVERDRAWN A charade of OVER (‘so greatly’) plus DRAWN (‘tempted’).

Down
1. A short musical overture (5)
INTRO This seems to be a straight definition; a suggestion of INTRO[it] hardly cuts it.
2. Putting in charge (7)
PRIMING Cryptic definition. My first choice was PRICING, which the utility I use told me was not the right answer, but which seems to me at least as justifiable. One of the pitfalls of cryptic definitions.
3. Nothing disturbed bees like being overweight (5)
OBESE A charade of O (‘nothing’) plus BESE, an anagram (‘disturbed’) of ‘bees’.
4. One thing you still gain when on a decline (7)
IMPETUS Cryptic definition.
5. Judges of knitted ties and cooked meats (9)
ESTIMATES A charade of ESTI, an anagram (‘knitted’) of ‘ties’ plus MATES, an anagram (‘cooked’) of ‘meats’.
6. Rendered a tune, setting up a Spanish drink (7)
SANGRIA A charade of SANG (‘rendered a tune’) plus RIA, a reversal (‘setting up’) of AIR (‘tune’) with ‘tune’ doing double duty – I think it is needed to get SANG out of ‘rendered’.
7. Chill wine to go with ends of turkey and cold game (3,6)
ICE HOCKEY A charade of ICE (‘chill’) plus HOCK (‘wine’) plus EY (‘ends of turkEY‘ – I suppose that is just as valid as indicating the T and Y).
13. Bluster and rage on car breakdown (9)
ARROGANCE An anagram (‘breakdown’) of ‘rage on car’.
14. Left sheet listing one’s financial assets (9)
PORTFOLIO A charade of PORT (‘left’) plus FOLIO (‘sheet’).
17. Low gear involved, finding place to park? (7)
MOORAGE A charade of MOO (‘low’) plus RAGE, an anagram (‘involved’) of ‘gear’.
18. Just come in, unplaced (7)
NOWHERE What would you call this? A reparsing of NOW HERE (‘just come in’).
20. Country has a craze to support rugby union (7)
RUMANIA A charade of RU (‘rugby union’) plus MANIA (‘a craze’).
22. Given such a start, where you should be (5)
AHEAD A charade of ‘a’ plus HEAD (‘start’).
23. Enemy the Salvation Army has to beat (5)
SATAN A charade of SA (‘Salvation Army’) plus TAN (‘beat’).

36 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,185 by Rufus”

  1. 16 is in error. The Aran islands are three in number. They are Irish. The Scottish Isle of Arran is a single island, obviously, but, equally obviously, has a double r.

  2. Poor Rufus – he can’t do right for doing wrong. I thought this was one of his better efforts – it delivered a lot for the level of solving difficulty.

    I fell into the PRICING trap at 2d but of the two PRIMING is clearly better – “in” is a bit awkward with the other possibility whereas the surface is perfect with the latter. So touché Rufus – I don’t mind being beaten once in a while.

    16a TRIMARAN does suggest the possibility of an error, typo or fudge, but when you look at the Aran Islands (spelt thusly), no single one of them is called Aran – so taking “type of island” for Aran, “of” as a link and boat alone as the def it resolves OK (if not thrillingly).

    The rest I can’t fault – you either like Rufusian CDs or you don’t.

    Thanks to blogger and setter – the week begins.

  3. Thanks Rufus and PeterO
    I was going to comment on “Aran”, but it has been covered.

    I wrote “a fair few” in for 21a, which gave me a slight delay – just as good with out the crossing letter?

    A couple of very weak clues – 8a and 26a – with part of the wordplay appearing unchanged in the solution (“up” in 8a seems particularly feeble).

    Sailors might raise eyebrows at “parking” boats!

    2d was my favourite. I tried PRICING first, but PRIMING is a much better answer, referring to a “priming charge” in an explosive device.

  4. Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

    I got held up for a while by writing ‘bucket’ in 9a. Otherwise, easy start to the week.

  5. Nothing worth mentioning, except that the Quiptic is a bit harder and with some equally ‘iffy’ clues.
    Better luck tomorrow.

  6. Thanks to Rufus and PeterO. I like Rufus’s puzzles – they have clever surfaces and make a change from the less straightforward setters (which are equally enjoyable in their own way). All part of the Grauniad’s rich tapestry.

  7. I considered priming first but then thought pricing seemed better! I don’t recall seeing a clue before like 8ac where one word in the answer – “up” – is unchanged from the clue. I don’t really see how 10ac works – shouldn’t it be “Courteous staff accepts it”, since although staff can be plural, pole cannot?

  8. Thanks PeterO and Rufus

    It took a few minutes for me to get into this but it quickly yielded after that. Like others I was a bit torn between ‘pricing’ and ‘priming’ but Chambers showed that the latter made better sense of the clue.

    Overall I enjoyed this less than other Rufus puzzles. 18d was probably my favourite clue.

  9. Enjoyed in parts as usual for Rufus. Got off to a bad start with BUCKET at 9 but ESTIMATES soon had me looking for alternatives.

    Never mind Aran, what about RUMANIA? Always ROMANIA nowadays, from what I can tell from tabloid headlines. But I suppose it’s in a dictionary somewhere.

    I quite liked PRIMING though.

  10. Largely good although some stinkers like HERE and STRIKE UP.

    Thanks PeterO; I did like PRIMING and never considered pricing. I liked NOWHERE and TOMORROW for the misleading midni(g)ht.

  11. A typical Rufus puzzle. I seem to remember that when I was a boy the country was spelled RUMANIA even though Romania is far more common nowadays. However, I’ve commented a few times before about Rufus’s iffy geographical clues and Hugh’s inability to pick them up, and Aran/Arran in 16ac is another example. PRIMING was my LOI and I’m glad I didn’t think of “pricing”.

  12. The clue for INTRO is cryptic if you think of “short” meaning “this word is abbreviated,” which makes more sense anyway, since intros are not necessarily short. A weak clue either way.

    And add me to the list of those who object to Rumania.

  13. Come on chaps, RUMANIA is in Collins, Chambers and the Oxford D-of-E………. I thought we were supposed to rely on these dictionaries!

  14. Robi @ 13
    Actually, Rumania isn’t in my Chambers – but neither is Romania!

    The entry I have is “Rumanian – see Romanian”

    then “Romanian” gives alternatives “Rumanian and “Roumanian”.

    Perhaps the clue should have indicated an obsolete name?

  15. I don’t often do Rufus puzzles, mainly because I’m not keen on all the often vague CDs that he includes. This was a fairly typical example of why I’m not a fan – 9 could have just as easily been bucket, 2 pricing and 25 infinity.

  18. Of course, Robi – I was just saying that “Rumania” doesn’t have an entry in my Chambers (I wonder why not?)

  19. This is getting a bit silly – perhaps for the same reason that Germany (or Romania) doesn’t have an entry in Chambers……..

  21. Collins lists a lot of proper nouns that do not appear in Chambers. Chambers must have a policy not to list countries in the main index – not even England appears!

  22. This was straightforward even by Rufus’s standards. Last in were the PRIMING/HANG UP crossers. I quite liked the SATAN clue.

    I’d also like to defend Rufus on the Aran question – I found this on the Wikipedia article on Arranmore: “It is also known in English as Aran Island (not to be confused with the Aran Islands off Galway Bay or the Scottish Isle of Arran). In Irish the island was traditionally called Árainn, the adjective mór (large) was added fairly recently”.

    Thanks to PeterO and Rufus

  23. Thanks all
    The level of Romania debate equals the level of this puzzle.
    Chambers includes ADJECTIVES not proper nouns.

  24. Thanks to PeterO for the blog.

    When I came to 2d I (eventually) thought of putting a charge of gunpowder into a gun: this is priming.

    I am another who started with bucket for 9a.

  25. RCWhiting @23; glad you enjoyed the Romania debate! Chambers does include proper nouns, or did you just mean the adjectival forms of countries?

  27. A particularly poor Rufus.

    Just to throw one more into the mix, 9A could equally be TENDER.

    Which is worse? The setting or the editing! It appears Rufus is beyond reproach 😉

    At least he is almost always “astonishing”

  29. A few weak ones, but on the whole enjoyable with some quite slick cds I thought.

    Incidentally I thought yeaterday’s Everyman was very good, and would have perhaps pleased more in this slot.

    Thanks all.

  30. Romanians would get apoplectic to see the antiquated spelling with no indication that it is no longer in use and no longer accepted – why not at least ‘had a craze’ ?

  31. PS the solution “priming” to 2d is not cryptic to me. “Putting in charge” at first sight meant just that to me, but I’m perhaps a pyromaniac, or pyromanian even.

  32. PeterO – at 6D I don’t think double duty is required; one can render a song. My old Chambers has “to reproduce, as music”.

  33. Re Rumania (sic). This was always the spelling of this country when I was a lad and until quite recently. In fact Romania still looks “wrong” to me. ;-).

    And Geoff as far as Rumanians being apoplectic about the spelling of their country in foreign parts I am sure they don’t actually give a damn or indeed expect it.

    The French for instance can’t spell United Kingdom. I personally don’t mind in the least although “Le Royaume-Uni” is a pretty poor stab.

  34. I enjoyed this, I thought JS@2 sums it up well.

    There is fun to be had hunting down gratuitously pedantic points re accuracy etc but they didn’t spoil the enjoyment for me during the solving at all. If this were AZED packed with obscure words then accurate definitions and indicators of archaic words would be essential. But – this is an easy Monday crossword, loose and cryptic definitions are not a problem here.

    The one exception for me was Aran which needed a question mark or some other indication that it is only cryptically a singular island, in which would have been nice clue.

  36. Just a thought on 18d – in horse racing, to “come in nowhere” is a colloquialism meaning that a horse has “only just managed to finish” i.e., has “only just come in”; the horse is likely to be “unplaced” among the winners.

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