Guardian Cryptic 26297 Philistine

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[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here

(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)   A slow start, but a quick finish.  Thanks to Philistine.  Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

9    Reciprocating, mum goes topless on topless beach (4,5)

EACH OTHER : “mother”(one’s mum) minus its 1st letter(goes topless) placed after(on, in an across clue) “beach ” minus its 1st letter(topless …).

10    A court case almost reaching the chambers (5)

Defn: … or cavities in the body, especially of the heart.

ATRIA : A + “trial”(a case heard in a court of law) minus its last letter(… almost).

11    Sea captain’s boat at last lost in storm (7)

CASPIAN : Anagram of(… in storm) [ “captain’s” minus the last letter of(… at last lost) “boat” ].

12    No more pleasure shifting iron out of fault (7)

DEFUNCT : FUN(pleasure) replacing(shifting … out of) “Fe”(the chemical symbol for the element, iron) in “defect”(a fault;a flaw).

13    Shred half the letters (4)

ATOM : [A TO M](the first 13 letters;half of the English alphabet).

14    Scraps first flights with both sides lost (4,6)

FIST FIGHTS : “first flights ” minus(with … lost) “r,l”(the abbrevs. for both sides, right and left, respectively).

16    Degustation of bubbly isn’t confined to a label (7)

TASTING : Anagram of(bubbly) ISN’T contained in(confined to) TAG(a label).

17    Falls out of gear again when reversing (7)

NIAGARA : Hidden in(out of) reversal of(… when reversing) “gear again “.

19    Thus, in washing, get forgiveness (10)

ABSOLUTION : SO(thus;hence) contained in(in) ABLUTION(a washing of the body, hands, etc.).

22    Some obstetricians leave it alone (4)

STET : Hidden in(Some) “obstetricians “.

Defn: … as an instruction that certain text marked for deletion or correction should be retained, from Latin, literally, “let it stand”.

24    Smarty-pants reports missing partition (4-3)

KNOW-ALL : Homophone of(reports) “no”(missing) + WALL(a partition).

25    Notice muck heading for rotating fan (7)

ADMIRER : AD(abbrev. for “advertisement”;a promotional notice) + MIRE(muck;mud) + the 1st letter of(heading for) “rotating “.

26    Fleet Street a constant intrusion (5)

RAPID : RD(abbrev. for a road;a street) containing(… intrusion) [A + PI(the mathematical constant).

27    Game of choice perhaps, out of cinematographic production (9)

PTARMIGAN : Anagram of(… production) [“cinematographic” minus(… out of) rearrangement of(… perhaps) “choice” ].

Defn: Various arctic and sub-arctic grouse, game birds.

Down

1    Nice sea shanty breaks out round noon, held responsible for 5 7 (8,7)

MERCHANT BANKERS : MER(the sea, as it is called in Nice, France) + CHANT(a song, eg. one sung by sailors;a shanty – both “chant” and “shanty” sharing the same root word from French) + anagram of( … out ) BREAKS containing(round) N(abbrev. for “noon”).

2    They clip specific items studio requires after vacation (8)

SCISSORS : “specific items studio requires ” respectively minus all their inner letters(after vacation).

3    Test provided design (5)

MOTIF : MOT(the annual test, in the UK, of all road vehicles over a certain age, from the abbrev. for the Ministry of Transport) + IF(provided;on condition that …).

Defn: …, in architecture or decoration, that is repeated.

4    Evolution of c-capital punishment (8)

CHANGING : C-+ HANGING(a form of capital punishment).

5,7    Tick bite crisis (6,6)

CREDIT CRUNCH : CREDIT(in commerce, tick, shortened from “ticket”, as in “he bought his TV set on tick”) + CRUNCH(to bite with a crackling sound).

Defn: … of the financial kind, when bankers are unwilling to lend money.

6    After a departure, many afraid to turn for help (3,6)

MAN FRIDAY : Anagram of(… to turn) [“many afraid” minus(After … departure) “a”].

Defn: As a noun, an assistant.

7    See 5

8    Really big heart? (5-10)

EARTH SHATTERING : A reverse clue: Anagram of(… -SHATTERING) EARTH = “heart “.

15    Poorly compiler to dive into poet’s pool (9)

BILLIARDS : [ILL(in a poor condition, health-wise] + I(self-referential pronoun for this crossword compiler)] contained in(to dive into) BARD(a poet)‘S.

17    Someone on a talk for recent arrivals (8)

NEONATAL : Hidden in(Some) “one on a talk “.

Defn: Relating to newborn infants.

18    Most like one voice full of hesitation, say (5,3)

ALTER EGO : ALTO(the highest adult male voice) containing(full of) [ ER(an expression signifying hesitation) + EG(say;for example, from the Latin abbrev.)].

20    Exclusive features of ice cream? (6)

SCOOPS : Double defn: 1st: … or news stories reported in one publication before appearing in any others; and 2nd: … that comes in dollops.

21    With these plants, Leon makes lentil soup (6)

TULIPS : A reverse clue: TULIPS(plants) plus(With these …) “Leon” = anagram of(makes) “lentil soup “.

23    Taste of plum? A miracle (5)

UMAMI : Hidden in(of) “plum? A miracle “.

Defn: … associated with meats and other high-protein foods, from Japanese.

(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)

35 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26297 Philistine”

  1. Thanks, scchua. I really enjoyed this – as you mention, it was a little difficult to get going but then everything flowed smoothly with lots of smiles along the way.

    You seem to have omitted the parsing of BANKERS, by the way.

  2. Thanks to Philistine for a testing but not too demanding crossword – I eventually got them all except ATOM!

    Thanks also to scchua for the blog – one small omission – the parsing of BANKERS in 1 down

  3. Thanks Philistine & scchua – good puzzle.

    Of course, I got stuck again on A to M although I have seen similar clues before.

    I thought 17 would have led to NEONATes. I guess the ‘for’ as indicated in the blog gives the adjectival sense.

  4. This was a great crossword thanks Philistine and Scchua. We worked through steadily with lots of smiles – so many different clever twists. We guessed 23d “Umami” as our last in, then had to google it. And we didn’t worry about neonatal, since it came out of the letters

  5. Thanks Philistine ans scchua

    My experience was a slow start and a slow finish! I felt quite satisfied to have completed it.

    I was puzzled for some time over the parsing of TASTING as I was sure the “bubbly” referred to ASTI.

    I thought that PTARMIGAN was a superb clue. Nice clue for NIAGARA as well.

    I would quibble about BILLIARDS being the same as pool – the only similarity between the two games is that both involve hitting balls with a cue on a slate table!

  8. I found this fairly tough, but pleasurable. Umami was also unknown to me, and I shared muffin’s doubts about billiards/pool, but I’m not going to gripe today.

  9. Ptarmigan reminded me of “my name is Psmith, spelled with a p as in psychology/ ptarmigan/ pstrawberry”. Thanks for the explanations.

    Tulips and ptarmigan are extra hard. Got them by pure pattern match but could not explain at all till I looked here.

  10. Thanks sschua. The good thing about these puzzles is learning, and that does involve a bit of a google work, best afterwards. UMAMI, worked out, was today’s bonus. Nice one, Philistine.

  11. It’s a matter of how your mind works I suppose. I enjoyed the device used in 27a and 21d but I thought the wordplay of 11a and 12a was rather too “clever” to be the means of reaching the solutions.

  12. Really enjoyable with plenty of aah moments, though couldn’t parse scissors. Minor quibble- doesn’t 17d requires neonates as an answer (recent arrivals)?

    Thanks to P and S for excellent puzzle and blog

  13. muffin@5, it seems that “billiards” can be used as a general term for games played on a billiards table with balls and cues. Additionally, pool (with numbered coloured balls) is aka “pocket billiards”.

  14. Parky@12, as Robi mentioned, the defn. as indicated by the underlining of “for”, is “pertaining or relating to …..”.

  15. scchua @ 13
    Thanks for that. I thought billiards just referred to the game with two white and one red ball.

  16. Thanks, Philistine and scchua for an enjoyable puzzle and an enlightening blog. Count me as another who was hung up for a while trying to make “bubbly” = ASTI.

    David Mop @ 11: Yes, it is a matter of how your mind works. The wordplay did help me get CASPIAN, although on another day it might not have, but I had to get DEFUNCT from the crossers and puzzle out the parsing afterward. I don’t mind taking either route to the answer as long as the setter gives me a fair chance to get there.

  17. Enjoyed the puzzle and thanks for the blog scchua – I couldn’t parse scissors, tulips and atom (doh).

    I still haven’t worked out why there is a picture of a curvaceous woman in a short dress. Does it relate to one of the answers – alter ego? earth shattering? Or is she July’s top crossword solver just off to solve her next crossword while sunning herself on the beach?

  18. Thanks to scchua for the blog. I needed you for several cases where I had the answer but not the parsing.

    I thought 26a was poor: ‘street’ in the clue gives ‘st’ in the answer. If he wanted ‘rd’ then he should have used ‘road’ or something more general such as ‘way’.

  19. A nitpick. Parsing of 17d isn’t precise. ‘Neonatal’ doesn’t mean ‘for new arrivals’.

  20. Thank you, scchua, for a fine blog. Like you, a slow start then a reasonably rapid finish. I especially liked MERCHANT BANKERS, though I solved it first and parsed it second.

    Emily, I think scchua may be asleep now, so I’ll hazard a guess on his behalf that the curvaceous woman is wearing a dress with a MOTIF design.

    And since the Grauniad thread does tend to attract rather genteel and easily offended folk, I won’t mention that ‘pocket billiards’ also has another meaning. Oops, I just have.

    Most enjoyable puzzle; thank you to the setter.

  21. Right K’s Dad, and thanks for replying. (BTW, are you keeping score?)
    And Emily, I guess you’ll next have to figure out what the picture of the other bird is doing there. 🙂

  22. Thanks to both Kathryn’s Dad and scchua.

    My initial concern that it was just an excuse to include a picture of a scantily clad woman has been well and truly assuaged – especially as I now see the link to the other picture 🙂

    Cheers,

    Emily
    (Guardian Reader)

  24. All fairly straightforward but entertaining, but I must be doing too many crosswords these days – I remembered UMAMI. Last in was MOTIF. Liked PTARMIGAN, MERCHANT BANKERS and EARTH SHATTERING

    Thanks to scchua and Philistine

  25. Mike P@19, how about “care (that is) for new arrivals is crucial”, synonymous with “neonatal care is crucial” ?

  26. Miek P @ 19

    How about “neonatal nutrition” for example?

    Ravilyn @9

    My first thought was “Do ptake some ptarmigan, Miss Dubedat” For those who cannot place the only slightly mangled quotation, it continues “And she did, bedad” Anyway, that’s how I remembered it until I looked it up.

  27. I enjoyed this puzzle, although I was surprised to see four composite anagram clues (11ac, 27ac, 6dn and 21dn) in a daily cryptic, and the answer to one of them, CASPIAN, was my LOI.

    As far as the clue for NEONATAL is concerned I think it works with the definition of “for recent arrivals”, and as that is what scchua has underlined in his blog I can’t see an issue with it. I also didn’t have a problem with street=rd in 26ac because they are synonymous enough for cryptic crossword purposes, IMHO. UMAMI was only vaguely familiar, but the wordplay seemed obvious enough with both checkers in place.

  28. Thanks, Scchua and Philistine. Like Andy @27, I was surprised to find comp. anags in a daily cryptic, although I I have come across them in prize puzzles.

    Had it not been for the c- , REFINING might have been a good answer at 4d.

  29. A superb puzzle from Philistine.

    I really enjoyed this and even managed to parse everything. A real tour de force in my opinion.

    Thanks to scchua and Philistine.

  30. Greatly enjoyed. Another excellent, hard and fair puzzle with a good few “ah” moments. I don’t recall many clues like 6d with anagrams minus a few letters, but they seem within the rules.

  31. Thanks all
    Due to a very helpful visit from daughter number two I started this only well into the evening.It was worth waiting for. I was held up by the NE orner especially 14ac & 12ac.
    I liked 13ac, 27ac. Noy sure about pool = billiards!

  32. I forgot tomention how welcome are the compound anagrams (usually found with Azed) especially when they are as juicy as 27ac.
    Chambers” pool…played on a table smaller than a billiards table”, hardly equates p with b.
    “one of several games”…bar billiards?

  33. I share the reservations about BILLIARDS = POOL

    However Chambers does define billiards as a generic term for games played with a cue and balls on a table.

    I lived in Germany for many years and was initially surprised to see lots of places advertising “Biliards” as an attraction. On entering these establishments one would inevitably find pool and perhaps “carambole” being played and on an a very very very very rare occasion snooker. (Carambole is billiards as we know it but without pockets!)

    So it appears that the “generic” form of the word is more in use on the continent than it is on these islands!

  34. I echo comments of Beery Hiker and Brendan(nto). I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful puzzle. I actually found it very easy – but that might be because I tackled it after a much more troublesome Phi in the Indie. Favourites (in order) were 14ac, 2dn and 8ac
    Many thanks to Philistine and sschua.

  35. Thank you very much to setter and blogger.

    Sorry, I’m both late on the scene and may well be incorrect, but is the explanation of CREDIT for ‘tick’ in 5d as complicated as that? Without invoking special jargon used in commerce, I just thought that in general a tick, as in a tick mark, was a credit (ie recognition) that something, eg an answer, was correct.

    I really enjoyed this, particularly the 2 reverse clues and ‘ATOM’, which I’m pretty sure I’ve seen before but which nonetheless always catches me out before the ‘doh…’ moment.

    Thanks again.

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