Guardian 26,302 / Chifonie

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

I’ve been chewing my pen, as it were, trying to compose a preamble for this puzzle and have decided to say simply that it’s a fairly typical Chifonie puzzle, I think – but, sticking my neck out, one perhaps more suited to the Quiptic slot.

 

Across

1 Spring put an end to game (9)
HOPSCOTCH
HOP [spring] + SCOTCH [put an end to]

6 Caught offensive character (5)
CRANK
C [caught] + RANK [offensive] – Collins gives, for ‘character’, ‘an odd, eccentric or unusual person’ and, for ‘crank’, ‘an eccentric or odd person’

9 Many fit in lodge (5)
DWELL
D [500 – many] + WELL [fit]

10 Saw about very small worker for profit (9)
ADVANTAGE
ADAGE [saw] round V [very] ANT [small worker]

11 Fondness for costly staff in hospital department (10)
ENDEARMENT
DEAR [costly] + MEN [staff] in ENT [hospital department] – this definition seemed strange to me but Chambers gives ‘the state of being endeared’

12 Was familiar with Kingsley’s first novel (4)
KNEW
K [Kingsley’s first] + NEW [novel]

14 Cavalry dance (7)
LANCERS
Double definition

15 Time husband should care (7)
THOUGHT
T [time] + H [husband] + OUGHT [should]

17 Unrestrained tirade about a politician (7)
RAMPANT
RANT [tirade] round MP [politician]

19 Dandified? Swimmer keeps nothing very quiet! (7)
FOPPISH
FISH [swimmer] round [keeps] O [nothing] + PP [very quiet]

20 Tuck in a sweatshirt (4)
EATS
Hidden in swEATShirt

22 Detention of nationalist leader interrupts funeral (10)
INTERNMENT
N[ationalist] in [interrupts] INTERMENT [funeral] – exploiting one of the most common errors in journalism with a clever surface

25 Weighty foreign product contains bronze (9)
IMPORTANT
IMPORT [foreign product] round TAN [bronze]

26 Ward off state terrorism, initially (5)
AVERT
AVER [state] + T[errorism]

27 Ride around island in Italy (5)
TURIN
TURN [ride] round I [island]

28 Little girl meets poet in the chemist (9)
DISPENSER
DI [little girl] + SPENSER [poet] – a weak surface:  surely we’d say, ‘in the chemist’s’?

Down

1 Vegetation that’s hard to trim (5)
HEDGE
H [hard] + EDGE [trim]

2 Another name for dopy men, US style (9)
PSEUDONYM
A nice anagram [style] of DOPY MEN US

3 Pass to the side for security (10)
COLLATERAL
COL [pass] + LATERAL [to the side]

4 Injuries in Sumatra disaster (7)
TRAUMAS
Anagram [disaster] of SUMATRA

5 Place of safety with books for deprived individual (4-3)
HAVE-NOT
HAVEN [place of safety] + OT [books]

6 Beat honoured actor heartlessly (4)
CANE
CA[i]NE – Sir Michael Caine is the disheartened honoured actor

7 Once more making a profit (5)
AGAIN
A GAIN [a profit]

8 Guard to glance over timepiece (4,5)
KEEP WATCH
Reversal [over] of PEEK [glance] + WATCH [timepiece]

13 Writer settled in advance to make amends (10)
COMPENSATE
PEN [writer] + SAT [settled] in COME [advance]

14 Thief dressed in scarlet (9)
LARCENIST
Anagram [dressed] of IN SCARLET

16 Frank lugs Elsie around (9)
GUILELESS
Anagram [around] of LUGS ELSIE

18 A king died under military vehicle? The mug! (7)
TANKARD
A R D [a king died] under [in a down clue] TANK [military vehicle]

19 It’s safe to break up for holidays (7)
FIESTAS
Anagram [to break up] of IT’S  SAFE

21 Narrow strip by river (5)
TAPER
TAPE [strip] + R [river]

23 Trade union gains prominence in school (5)
TUTOR
TU [trade union] + TOR [prominence]

24 Press club (4)
IRON
Double definition – a perfect Quiptic clue to end with 😉

35 comments on “Guardian 26,302 / Chifonie”

  1. Thanks Chifonie and Eileen
    When I had got to 12ac before entering anything I thought that it was going to be difficult, but thereafter it went very quickly.
    I’m a little puzzled by TURN = RIDE, and I thought that “honoured actor” for CAINE was unfairly loose (though, to be fair, it didn’t give me any difficulty).
    Favourite was FOPPISH.

  2. Thanks Eileen.

    All done and dusted in 15 mins.

    I thought 5d was hide out, used the cheat button to enter it and discovered it wasn’t _ cheated myself

  5. No challenges here for me today. Most were simple write-ins on first read. I also raised an eyebrow at RIDE for TURN.

    A good one for cryptic beginners, though.

    Hope for better things from the Indy!

  6. I found this fairly routine this morning.
    Thanks for the blog Eileen: I know you enjoyed the RSC productions of Henry IV: I was pleased to see that they are bringing both parts to Newcastle this summer and Anthony Sher is due to continue playing Falstaff. We have booked seats.

  7. [Morning George

    I hope you enjoy it / them, too. It was interesting for us to see Anthony Sher in Part 2 after seeing the understudy [who plays Bardolph in the ‘proper’ version] making an excellent job of Falstaff in Part 1 in the Understudies version.]

  8. Yes, definitely at the easy end of the spectrum (I actually finished it at one short sitting, which is rare for me) and as Eileen said, maybe more of a Quiptic. I also thought FOPPISH was very nice.

  11. Thanks to Eileen for the blog. You explained 8d for me. I had read ‘over’ in the clue as meaning ‘above’ in a down clue. 🙁

  12. Thanks Chifonie and Eileen.

    I actually thought it was easier than most of the quiptics, especially this week’s.

  13. So in three days that’s been easy, almost impossible, then easy. Hoping for something in the middle tomorrow!

  14. When I go quickly through a crossword I secretly hope that there will be lots of entries on Fifteensquared saying how difficult it was … not to be.

    Eileen – Henry 4 part 2 was magnificent. I thought the understudy for Falstaff, Joshua Richards, was better than Sher. He carried a sort of authority which you need in Falstaff – otherwise why on earth would people want to be his companion?

    And wouldn’t it be fun if bishops now were like bishops then …

  15. Maybe it was “chemist” instead of “chemist’s” to make the clue itself a bit harder. Before I had any crossing letters, I did spend a few seconds trying to think of specific famous chemists (of the scientist variety, not the pharmacist variety).

    I agree with others that Michael Caine was a bit loosely suggested there. Also, “many” = D is a little bit vague.

    Finished this in about 20 minutes, nonetheless.

  16. Sat on a sunny terrace with a coffee and a printed copy. Finished it barely 1/3 of the way through a Montecristo No. 2, an occasional one-hour treat. Nothing very memorable and definitely on the too easy side.

  17. When in doubt say nothing. There are lots of us mortals out here who sometimes don’t get a single Paul clue. Thanks Chiffonie for giving me a crossword I actually finished. It happens about three or four times a year. If it didn’t I would probably move to the Telegraph – Guardian please note – too many too clever crosswords could reduce your readership. I enjoyed it very much.

  18. Agree that this was easier than many Quiptics, which was rather disappointing after yesterday’s tour de force – I’m only late commenting because I didn’t have a normal lunch break today. Last in was LANCERS.

    Thanks to Eileen and Chifonie

  19. More like a quiptic? Not sure what that’s meant to mean anymore.
    quick solve for me but after being mugged by Monk elsewhere that was a good thing. Thought 24d might well be the most hackneyed clue ever bar gegs.
    Ta Eileen as ever.

  20. I’m definitely of the opinion that this puzzle and this week’s Quiptic should have swapped places. Having said that, after the troubles I had elsewhere today an easier puzzle was probably no bad thing from a “save a few more brain cells” perspective. The CANE/CRANK crossers were my last ones in.

  21. A pleasant enough puzzle with nothing contentious.

    It was easy but at least it was “cryptic”.

    Thanks to Eileen and Chifonie

  22. Hi this is a bit off topic, but not much I hope. I’m posting it here as I hope to get a quicker response that way.

    I’ve been away [in England of all places] for a while and just got back to USA. I had done Genius 132 while I was away. My printed copy, [and the website still has] the date for submission being July 5, yet the Guardian printed an annotated solution last Friday – June 27.

    Does anyone know what has happened?

    Thanks and sorry to barge in on the daily puzzle

    Gordon

  23. I enjoyed this after a long week and a cold beer – clues all worked nicely and they were “proper” clues – not a load of cryptic definitions – first one in 12A, last one in 3D – didn’t know “lancers” was a dance but wrote it in anyway…

    I have this memory of a very early Chifonie crossword – it was impossible (for me anyway, I shudder whenever I see Chifonie as compiler) – and even when I saw the answers I couldn’t work them out – I wonder if have I improved or has Chifonie adapted to please a wider audience or are my memories screwed 🙂 …

    Thanks to Eileen and Chifonie

  24. Thanks all
    One certainly complain about over routine, the gap between yesterday’s and today’s was wider than the new wealth gap in the UK.
    Ride= turn was fine but I did hesitate over thought = care.

  26. Hey RC – good to see you – SuzeeMoon and I always look out for your comments (we’re usually doing out-of-date crosswords so too late to comment!) – can’t say I worried at all about ride=turn or thought=care – the answer comes – the chance that any other answer will be consistent with a stricter interpretation of the wordplay is vanishingly small – so write it in!

  27. Hello, dodgyProf – a name I don’t recognise, so welcome to the site if you’re new and my sincere apologies if you’re not.

    RCW @24

    Despite my reservations about this puzzle, I have to say that I had none at all re thought = care: ‘without a thought / care’? or ‘thoughtless / careless’? [I haven’t actually bothered to look them up.]

  29. I agree with all that it was on the easy end of the spectrum. Even a plodder like me could get 19 solutions in the first pass.

    But it is a welcome relief and confidence restorer. Nutmeg just killed me yesterday. Felt like that golfer in a PGW short story, where he goes through a miserable month of painful golf, decides to give up and then he cracks one sweet shot, and now he is back in the fold.

    Miraculously I did not need any explanations or parsing help today!

  31. Disappointing. Thought Thursday’s puzzles were supposed to be at least a little challenging…..? Yawn :-C

  32. Apologies. Simple courtesy drowned by ennui; I should have thanked Chifonie and Eileen for their sterling efforts.

  33. Presumably the qualified person who works in a dispensary is the dispenser = the chemist.

  34. Is it too late to ask, how does “little girl” become DI and “prominence” become TOR? I got the answers but didn’t really understand how they work.

  35. Hi Curmudger

    It’s never too late – the blogger gets all the comments by email.

    It’s fairly common practice in crosswords to indicate an abbreviation of names by cluing them as ‘little’ boy or girl. [Of course, for years, DI has been ‘princess!]

    Re tor – it’s a hill: the one at Glastonbury is quite well known.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glastonbury_Tor

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