Guardian 26,223 / Tramp

by

A pleasant outing from Tramp with nothing too hard.

There are three references to film actresses – does that make a theme?

Across

1 Buffet snack served with wicked lunch (not cold) (7,8)
KNUCKLE SANDWICH
(SNACK + WICKED LUN(c)H)*. Def = ‘buffet’. ‘Served’ is not too convincing as an anagrind; ‘cooked’ would have been better.

9 Branch where motor mechanics change body parts (7)
ARMPITS
ARM + PITS (where motor mechanics change, on a race track)

10 Good behaviour last month, no booze (7)
DECORUM
DEC (December) O RUM

11 Know Clarke (or Clark cut short)? (3)
KEN
KEN = know; Ref Ken Clarke and Clark Ken(t)

12 Low flyer’s landing spot to limit helicopter? Not initially (5-6)
HEDGE-HOPPER
H (landing spot) EDGE (c)HOPPER. A hedge-hopper is a low-flying plane.

13 Grand with wealthy player’s unbeatable hand? (5,5)
ROYAL FLUSH
ROYAL + FLUSH

15 Exploited the Guardian journalist (4)
USED
US + ED

18 Doctor with tablet turning head of Michael Barrymore? (4)
DREW
DR (doctor) E (Ecstasy tablet) W (a turned M), alluding to Drew, not Michael.

20 Something blown well: blower gets behind America (10)
SOUSAPHONE
SO (‘Well!’) + PHONE (blower) behind USA

25 Short, firm president (3)
IKE
IKE(a). Eisenhower was known as IKE.

26 Starts to get excited — Ronnie’s back, eyeing reds and making plant (7)
GERBERA
Initial letters. The surface reading is about the reigning World Snooker Champion.

27 Fish nets close to whales mark one disturbance at sea (7)
TSUNAMI
TUNA nets (whale)S + M (Mark – the old Deutsche variety) I

28 Sweet products in set, refine Coco Pops (15)
CONFECTIONERIES
(IN SET REFINE COCO)*

Down

1 Sex symbol of 10 — can king arise, tired? (9)
KNACKERED
(DEREK CAN K)<. 10 is the film of that name, not a reference to 10ac.

2 Feminine new piece’s ugly, not good on the exterior (7)
UNMANLY
N MAN (piece, in chess) in U(g)LY

3 Atonement had her sounding gallant (8)
KNIGHTLY
“Knightley“, who appeared in the film Atonement

4 Softened exams: education department primarily welcomes top grades (5)
EASED
A’S (top grades) in, i.e. welcomed by, initial letters

5 A don, not working, prepares lectures (9)
ADDRESSES
A D(on) DRESSES – ‘on’ = ‘working’

6,23across,17 Introductory line for explorer in TV guide: “Mostly old Inspector Morse reruns” (6,11,1,7)
DOCTOR LIVINGSTONE I PRESUME
(IN TV GUIDE OL(d) INSPECTOR MORSE)*. The immortal if implausibly courteous line supposedly uttered by Henry Morton Stanley.

7 Breaks in Irish rugby union squad’s first tackling exercise (7)
IRRUPTS
PT (exercise) in, or ‘tackled’ by, IR (Irish) RU S(quad)

8 Cartoon character is a big hit in America (5)
HOMER
d.d. – Homer Simpson and a home run

14 Hurry! Ladies getting trade round back of park (4,5)
LOOK SMART
LOOS (ladies, as in toilets) MART round (par)K

16 Pass on time — no hospital to standards for nutritional study (9)
DIETETICS
DIE (pass on) T + ET(h)ICS. If there is a surface reading to this I can’t get it, or even really parse it.

19 Ring banks of Everton, mid-range club? (7)
ENVIRON
E(verto)N V IRON. I presume a number 5 iron is a mid-range golf club.

21 Independent and i hold up small supplement — men at the top make paper work (7)
ORIGAMI
(I MAG i)< with OR (other ranks) on top

22 Partners and opponent, three times holding unknown hand, might catch this? (6)
SNEEZE
At the bridge table S and N are partners, E one of their opponents, and z is an unknown. The clue is an &lit of the ‘extended definition’ variety, I suppose, though not very convincing, particularly as to the ‘opponent’. Edit: A hand might catch a sneeze. Thanks to NeilW @3 for pointing out the obvious – though in my defence, the comma doesn’t quite work in the definition, does it?

23 Cut down one chapter to make deduction (5)
LOGIC
LOG (cut down) I C(hapter)

24 Top three characters for United in scoreless draw (5)
OUTDO
UTD (three characters representing ‘united’) in 0-0

49 comments on “Guardian 26,223 / Tramp”

  1. Thanks Tramp and Writinghawk. This looked hard at first but then everything fell into place quite quickly, especially after getting the long phrase. I couldn’t parse IKE, ADDRESSES and DREW so thank you for the explanations!

  2. I didn’t get 9a, infuriatingly. “Body parts” and “parts of the body” seem to me to be different. “We’ve got a mad axe murderer on the loose, Sarge…..I’ve found these body parts”. “What’ve you found?” “Armpits”

  3. Thanks, Writinghawk. I do like Tramp’s adventurous approach to clueing.

    I thought the anagrind for KNUCKLE SANDWICH was “buffet” but was then left even more unconvinced that there was a clear definition in the clue…

    On the other hand, I took the definition for SNEEZE as just: “hand, might catch this?”

  4. I guess Tramp, if he drops by, will tell us he wrote this a while ago – Everton would be rather upset to be described as mid-range, given recent performance.

    By the way, I wonder if Tramp is an afficionado of the Kermode and Mayo Film review? [Ikea and Knightley in the same puzzle. 🙂 ]

  5. Can confectioneries be a plural? Chambers doesn’t seem to give it – I thought confectionary was a mass noun?

  6. Completed this, but not really my cup of tea. I thought that some of the definitions were very weak (‘buffet’ for knuckle sandwich [hardly], and ‘well’ for so etc.). I’ve no doubt that someone will produce a dictionary definition to show that it’s right, but I don’t recall ever coming across ‘mart’ as a verb meaning trade. I personally don’t like the device of rotating letters, which Tramp seems to enjoy employing.
    All in all, I think this puzzle does not appeal to more traditional solvers, like me, but I’m sure that others will love it, and I don’t begrudge them their enjoyment.

  7. Still don’t see why ‘buffet’ = knuckle sandwich…

    But agree with NeilW; three opponents (3x E) around the unknown (Z) and a hand may catch a sneeze (so a nice misdirection from the word ‘hand’). Seems like one of the most accurate clues to me!

    As for Everton; again, I think this is a very clever mis-direction/tongue-in-cheek clue since the mid-range bit refers to the golf club (as if we care…on average, is it true that solvers are unlikely to be golfers? Both groups seem content to spend hours doing something that is ultimately pretty pointless )

    Thanks to setter and solver!

  8. Thanks, Writinghawk. This setter is fond of producing themed puzzles, but I’m just as happy with him producing an unthemed one like this. I liked KNACKERED, OUTDO and SNEEZE (which I parsed like NeilW, and agree with him on the inventiveness of the cluing). Well done for parsing DREW – couldn’t see that one.

    I was pleased to have the write-in for DOCTOR LIVINGSTONE I PRESUME (although it’s apparently made up), because I struggled to get going this morning. But once a few more went in, all was well with the world.

    CONFECTIONERIES is in my Collins.

    Bravo, Tramp.

  9. Collins gives ‘buffet’ as 4. (transitive) to hit, esp with the fist; cuff – so good enough for me, especially with such a delightful surface. That comma in 22d is my only quibble. leaving ‘partners and opponent’ as the subject of ‘catch’.

  10. Disappointing to me. 6ac was so obvious I didn’t bother to check the anagram. 15ac v straightforward. But some nice touches such as 24d and 22d. Thank you for parsing 14d but I still don’t get 5d.

  11. Cryptocyclist, if it’s the DRESSES bit in 5dn that you don’t get, then it’s in the sense of ‘I prepared/dressed the salad for lunch’. Used also for preparing meat and game.

  12. One of my quickest solutions for ages, principally by being able to guess from definitions way before working out the subsidiary, eg HEDGE-HOPPER, ROYAL FLUSH.

    At 1a, I had ‘snack’ doing double duty, ie a KNUCKLE SANDWICH being a snack that happens to be a buffet. Not much more convincing, perhaps, but explains why ‘cooked’ was not the anagrind.

  13. Highly entertaining puzzle.

    Thanks Writinghawk; I particularly enjoyed (twice) KNIGHTLY, DREW and KNACKERED.

    As well as a ROYAL FLUSH, this puzzle had five kings. 😉

  14. I would have added that a KNUCKLE SANDWICH is a vulgar term for a punch in the mouth, DEREK in 1 down refers to Bo Derek,who was awarded ten out of ten by Dudley Moore’s character in the film, Knightley refers to Kiera, and Clark Kent was Superman’s secret persona.

    I also prefer the definitions to be underlined, as many other bloggers do.

  15. Thanks Writinghawk and Tramp. I found this difficult.

    I had short firm = (N)ike in 25ac. Also Chambers has trade as a meaning of MART (14dn), though it does give Shakespeare as the justification! If it’s good enough for the Bard…

  16. Thanks writinghawk and Tramp

    An enjoyable puzzle that seemed inpenetrable at first glance but yielded eventually. Oddly prescient in 27a with this morning’s news from Chile and not far off last night’s result in 24d.

    I oddly missed the snooker reference in 26a and the H in 12a though the answers were clear enough.

    I ticked 1a, 18a, 14d, and 22d.

  17. Thanks, Writinghawk. I found this an easier Tramp than usual, much helped by guessing the long answer at 6 straight away. I got many of the answers by spotting the definitions and worked out the wordplay afterwards — except 1dn, so thanks for explaining how Derek related to 10.

    Robi @13 — I wondered (n passing!) why there were so many K’s!

    Also quite a lot of Kens, since we also have LIVINGSTONE.

    I liked 22dn and 24dn and 18ac brought a smile. (I don’t mind M’s turning into W’s.)

    Thanks, Tramp, I enjoyed this.

  18. Thanks, Writinghawk

    This one yielded fairly easily for me – 1d then 1a came quickly (though I wasn’t too convinced of the def for the latter) and the solver-friendly grid meant that I was well on the way.

    Tramp always produces a range of clue types, with some ingenious devices, but he is particularly fond of charades. There is only one straightforward double definition clue in the whole puzzle: 8d (a rather good one, too). This does make a pleasant change from the Rufus style, which is one reason I always enjoy his crosswords.

    I liked the references to Keira, Bo and DREW, but my favourites were 10a, 27a, 5d, 14d and 24d.

  19. peterjohnn @14 – yes, but I couldn’t quite reconcile a KNUCKLE SANDWICH with the rather “gentle” image suggested by a “buffetting in the mouth”!

  20. I thought this was Tramp in Top Form! 1A, 18A, 26A, 28A and 24D were superb. The use of buffet, Barrymore, plant, pops and top respectively to both mislead and guide one to the answer were all fine examples of first class clueing.

  21. endwether @9 re ‘buffet’ and Collins.

    That may be good enough for you but a verb cannot define a noun.
    However Collins also gives 5 a blow esp with a fist or hand. Good enough for anybody.

  22. Thanks, Writinghawk.

    A bit late commenting today, so nothing to add, really, except many thanks to Tramp for another cracking puzzle – and to mention the clever 21dn, which I don’t think anyone else has highlighted.

  23. Thank you for your help Writinghawk. I finished quite quickly for me (although I’ve never before met “look smart” as meaning “hurry”) but even with the answers I couldn’t understand the cryptic parts of 12A, 18A, 1D, 3D, 14D, 16D, 21D. Just me being dense, or was some of the wordplay a bit over contrived?

  24. This was as entertaining and inventive as we’ve come to expect from Tramp, and probably not his most difficult. Got the DOCTOR L early on but there was still plenty of trickier stuff – didn’t help myself by writing LOOK SHARP instead of LOOK SMART but once I looked properly at the long anagram that became clear. Last in were ORIGAMI and IKE. Liked the crossed film references in DREW and KNACKERED.

    Thanks to Tramp and Writinghawk

  25. Had “look sharp” for 14d – careless of me – which held me up on confectioneries.

    As an Arsenal supporter I hope that 19dn is prophetic.

    Liked this very much and did most on the tube, but 6ac etc just a little too obvious for me.

  26. Re 2d
    I forgot to mention my slight disquiet with this clue. The answer is of course clear enough and its ‘logic’ is also clear. However, ‘unmanly’ has a basically critical tone, whereas ‘feminine’ is neutral to positive. Also unmanly has another opposite in the form of ‘childish’ or ‘boyish’. This is not a PC complaint (we have had too many discussions of these) but did anyone else have any small qualms of a similar sort.

  27. Thanks writinghawk and Tramp
    Not the most enjoyable Tramp ever – KEN was my favourite.

    I didn’t like Knightly – even if you spotted the correct “Atonement”, it relied on you having seen the film rather than just read the book.

    I’m surprised that no-one has pointed out that TSUNAMI is NOT a “disturbance at sea” – in deep water a tsunami passing is almost undetectable; it is when it reaches a beach that the problems arise.

  29. Thanks Writinghawk for the blog and thanks for the comments.

    This was written two years ago and there are some things in it that I probably wouldn’t do now; for example, the comma in 22d is a bit naughty. I am an Evertonian and agonised for ages about calling them a “mid-range club”: it’s not the best clue. I do like the long anagram but it seems it was a write-in for a lot of solvers who post on blogs.

    baerchen@2: I think it originally said “parts of body” but I changed it.

    Thanks again

    Neil

  30. Re 20, has anyone else noticed how ‘so’ is gradually replacing ‘well’ at the start of a reply to a question – especially in office meetings?

  31. I found this a pleasant enough solve. It took me a while to see KNUCKLE SANDWICH, and despite the very helpful ‘K’ checkers KNACKERED and KNIGHTLY were two of my last three in, separated by ARMPITS.

    I had parsed DREW as “DR” with “W” (with) and “E” (tablet) reversed (i.e. turning) and I was wondering what the Michael in the clue was doing there. It makes a lot more sense now and the clue is much better than I originally thought because of its misdirection.

  32. Thanks all
    Last in Ms Knightly, I liked 1 down.
    I thought a tsunami was a disturbance at sea just not on the surface?

  33. Lautus, I’m not sure I’ve noticed that correspondence between ‘so’ and ‘well’. ‘Going forward’ is my current office-speak hate phrase.

    Here I think Tramp was just reflecting on young people’s ability to transpose the two words in ‘it was well hard’ and ‘it was so hard’, when commenting on an exam, for instance. Not a usage I would vote for, but then I’m an old fart, and would only ever use the phrase ‘well pleased’.

  34. Thanks for covering WritingHawk and Tramp, dammit I’ve had to miss you again. Rather enjoyed it when I finally got to do it.

  36. Re: Lautus@30 and Kathryn’s Dad@33

    Thanks for the heads up regarding the office speak. Going forward I might have to leverage the synergies of your posts and proactively produce a ‘business bullshit’ puzzle going forward. Just to manage expectations, it might be some time before I ideate the puzzle but I will certainly take on board your key learnings when I can find a landing slot in my diary.

    Neil

  37. Tramp @ 36

    Love it! Should you ever decide to abandon cruciverballistics you have a long career in management consultancy ahead of you. Your command of managementspeak jargonbollocks will stand you in good stead 🙂

    On a general note, I really enjoy all your puzzles…stick with ’em, forget the consultancy…

  38. A very enjoyable puzzle from Tramp which I actually thought was towards the more difficult end of his spectrum.

    Of course most of the “objections” have been answered so I won’t repeat the justifications.

    According to the SOED a tsunami is “A long high undulation or series of undulations of the surface of the sea caused by an earthquake or similar underwater disturbance”. So how is this NOT a disturbance at sea? It pretty obviously is at almost all levels!

    Thanks to Writinghawk and Tramp

  39. Brendan @ 38
    Sorry, the SOED is wrong – see the wikipedia link. A tsunami causes very little disturbance to the surface in deep water – it acts much more an exceptional tide – hence the alternative name “tidal wave”.

  41. Muffin @39

    I fear you are missing the point.

    A tsunami is a disturbance in the sea, no matter how small this may or may not be. So the clue is 100% correct.

  42. Brendan (nto)
    It may be a (tiny) disturbance in the sea, but it is a far greater disturbance at a coast!

    I’m still not happy about the definition.

  44. Ref tsunami and definitions, dictionaries only ever follow and record usage, they don’t define it in advance.

    So if tsunami is now generally taken to mean a disturbance at sea, then so be it. For example, I am sure I heard the BBC today refer to a major tsunami…what’s a minor one?

    I once thought differently and would have followed dictionaries, but after reading Wardhaugh’s “Proper English” I saw the light [(C) Todd Rundgren]

  45. Muffin
    A tsunami is a wave that originates at sea and is transmitted via the sea. What fishermen notice is irrelevant. Also Collins, and Wiki, both say that it is incorrect to refer to one as a tidal wave.

  46. Why is what fishermen notice irrelevant? Have they been disenfranchised? 😉

    I would have thought that as they spend more time than most on the sea their views might have a little relevance?

    The clue is still correct though.

  47. I’m not going to get involved in pedantry over tsunamis.

    Tramp, thanks for the comments – always interesting to get the setter’s perspective. I’m not sure I’m looking forward to the deliverable you have tasked yourself with, but I’m sure there will be plenty of thinking outside the box, so let’s see who salutes…

  48. Who would have thought that my mild query @32 would cause so much disturbance on land.
    For office twaddle see W1A on BBC2 following 2012 ((Olympics).

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