Guardian Cryptic No. 26,303 by Tramp

by

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

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26303.

I found this a bear, with several parsings which I have either misread or are to my mind stretched to breaking point.. I am generally impressed by Tramp’s puzzles, but not this one. And it kept me up well beyond my usual bedtime.

 

Across
1. Disneyland also lost rides — in a way that’s supercilious (7)
SNIDELY An anagram (‘rides’?) of ‘Disneyll[and] with AND (‘also’) removed (‘lost’).
5. No credit for tennis player having “time out” for injury, ultimately (3,4)
PAY CASH An substitution: PAT CASH (‘tennis player’, victor in the Gentlemen’s singles at Wimbledon in 1987) with the T replaced (‘time out’) by Y (‘injurY, ultimately’).
10. Box, possibly turned over right before Beeb, essentially … (4)
TREE A charade of T (‘turned’) plus R (‘right’) TR, a reversal (‘turned’) of RT (‘right’) plus EE (‘BEEb, essentially).Thanks to Gaufrid et al for the correction.
11. … are in a storm covering Fish on screen — weather office gets wind gauge (10)
ANEMOMETER An envelope (‘covering’) of NEMO (‘Fish on screen’ – not the Wanda that was my first thought) plus MET (‘weather office’) in AER, an anagram (‘in a storm’) of ‘are’.
12. American parent left cat? (6)
MAMMAL A charade of MAMMA (‘American parent’?) plus L (‘left’), with the question mark in the clue indicating ‘cat’ as an example.
13. Those attracted to ones who breed for pleasure (8)
FANCIERS Double definition – really two shades of meaning of the same word.
14. Day’s impression sees pack down (4,5)
DATE STAMP A charade of DATES (‘sees’) plus TAMP (‘pack down’).
16. Deliverer of baby in section — textbook at either end (5)
STORK A charade of S (‘section’; Chambers gives this as an abbreviation) plus T OR K (‘TextbooK at either end’).
17,24. An it girl losing her head — posh criminal? (5,6)
PARIS HILTON An anagram (‘criminal’) of ‘an it ‘ plus ‘{g}irl’ without its first letter (‘losing her head’) plus ‘posh’.
19. Small talk includes “Yo Blair”, initially Dubya goes over wearing this? (6,3)
COWBOY HAT An envelope (‘includes’) of OWBOY, a reversal (‘goes over’) of ‘yo’ plus B (‘Blair initially’) plus W (‘Dubya’) plus O (where does that come from? Even if it is ‘over doing double duty, it does not seem to me to work. Any suggestions?) in CHAT (‘small talk’)
23. Most short-lived footballer around official drinking single (8)
BRIEFEST A double envelope (‘around’ and ‘drinking’) of I (‘single’) in REF (‘official’) in BEST (George, ‘footballer’ , with an all-too relevant surface)
24. See 17
– See 17
26. Britney Spears? Publicity stunt with international megastar (5,5)
PRIMA DONNA A charade of PR (‘publicity stunt’) an abbreviation (‘stunt’) for ‘publicity’ plus I (‘international’) plus MADONNA (‘megastar’). Thanks to enwether @18 for the elucidation.
27. Where and how superhero might label his faucet? (4)
BATH Hoe How does one describe this clue? It is a jokey reference to Batman, and along the lines of batmobile etc., he might label one of his bath faucets – taps -as BAT H.
28,7. Study of reactions here? Strictly Come Dancing (16)
ELECTROCHEMISTRY An anagram (‘dancing’) of ‘here strictly come’. ELECTRO is (just) a word in its own right, a shortened form of electroplate (an electroplated object) or electortype (similar, but the metallic plate, generally copper, is thicker and removed from its substrte to make a copy of some original).
29. Threads run through stomachs (7)
STRANDS An envelope (‘through’) of R (‘runs’) in STANDS (‘stomachs’).

Down
2. Peace group (7)
NIRVANA Double definition.
3. A death on Dallas was one shot taking Ewing’s head? (5)
DREAM An envelope (‘taking’) of E (‘Ewing’s head’) in DRAM (‘shot’). I did not see any of the television series Dallas, but a quick trawl shows that an entire season turns out to be a dream of one of the characters, but not including the shooting of JR.
4. Handout from kinky fella on film (7)
LEAFLET A charade of LEAFL, an anagram (‘kinky’)  of ‘fella’ plus ET (‘film’, as a change from alien).
6. A company to turn off functions for old computers (6)
ACORNS A charade of ‘a’ plus CO (‘company’) plus R[u]NS (‘functions’) without the U (‘turn off’).
7. See 28
– See 28
8. One seen with clips on Aussie station (ex-England captain)? (7)
SHEARER Double definition, the second bein Alan Shearer, soccer captain for Newcastle and England.
9. Harry Potter film initially not as pompous (4-9)
SELF-IMPORTANT An anagram (‘harry’) of ‘potter film’ plus N (‘initially Not’) plus ‘as’.
15. Outbreak blocked by resistance of the outer skin (9)
EPIDERMIC An envelope (‘blocked by’) of R (‘resistance’) in EPIDEMIC (‘outbreak’).
18. Relating to Dawn French with vicar’s last word that’s spoken (7)
AURORAL An charade of AU (‘French with’ as Coq au vin) plus R (‘vicaR‘s last) plus ORAL (‘word that’s spoken’; I do not think that ‘word’ passes muster as a meaning of ORAL as a noun, but if you interpret the lue as asking for a ‘word that means “spoken”, the problem goes away. Scor one up for Tramp, I think).
20. Times to menopausal treatment, committing each in the memory (2,5)
BY HEART An envelope (‘committing’) of EA (‘each’) in BY (‘times’) plus HRT (hormone replacement therapy, ‘menopausal treatment’).
21. Heading to Angelina, Brad finally settled on description for some of their children (7)
ADOPTED A charade of A (‘heading to Angelina’) plus D (‘BraD finally’) plus OPTED (‘settled on’).
22. One coming last after good sex (6)
GENDER A charade of G (‘good’) plus ENDER (‘one coming last’).
25. American bisexual in city to get external body parts (5)
LABIA An envelope (‘in’) of A (‘Americn’) plus BI (‘bisexual’) in LA (Los Angeles, ‘city’).

48 comments on “Guardian Cryptic No. 26,303 by Tramp”

  1. Well, I liked this a lot, even if there seem to be a couple of dodgy elements. Besides the problem you mention at 19a, I can’t see how ‘publicity stunt’ can give PR.

    Thanks for the full parsing of ACORNS – one of my last in. Really enjoyed LABIA (who doesn’t?) and and also 1a, 9d and, yes, the Batman clue. Here I think one can just say that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

  2. Thanks PeterO for the blog.

    I wrote this in December 2011 and on reflection some of the clues are a little forced. I think there’s some decent stuff in there though. I admit that the clue for COWBOY HAT, for one, is a little contrived and the cryptic grammar would be improved if the “goes” were changed to “going”: the intended parsing is CHAT around reversal of {YO+B+W}. I won’t pull myself to pieces over it though.

    I love writing themed puzzles, even on subjects of which I know very little. I’ve got quite a few puzzles in the bank but I’m going through a period of writers’ block when it comes to theme ideas. If you have any subject ideas that you’d like to see a crossword themed around please email me at: trampcrosswords at gmail dot com.

    Thanks

    Neil

  3. Thanks, PeterO. I didn’t find this Americana themed puzzle too hard at all but entertaining as usual from Tramp. Well, at least until I hit the buffers on COWBOY HAT:

    Thanks for the puzzle, Tramp, for dropping in and for your parsing of the clue but I’m afraid you haven’t explained the extra O!

  5. Well, I managed to complete with little trouble. Didn’t even notice the extra O in 19ac! But I liked quite a lot here. 28,7 was good, also 1ac and 5ac. Far fewer write-ins than yesterday, so quite a good brain work out. NW corner held me up a bit till I got 1ac.

    Thanks all!

  6. Thanks for the crossword and the blog.

    I had the same problem with 19. Why does ‘T’ mean turned in 10?

  7. Hi Aoxomoxoa
    “Why does ‘T’ mean turned in 10?”

    I don’t think it does. My parsing was RT (right) reversed (turned over) [b]EE[b].

  8. Thanks Tramp and PeterO
    This was a struggle, and I didn’t enjoy it much. It seemed to me that too many of the clues relied on general knowledge for their parsing (suppose you hadn’t heard of Nirvana, Pat Cash, Alan Shearer or Paris Hilton, for example?)

    Aoxomoxoa @ 6
    I took it as RT (right) backwards.

  9. @Axo – re 10a – I wondered that but resolved it by having RT for “right” so “turned over right” gave TR.

    Found this one hard to break into and as the as the broad theme emerged I wondered whether I was going to enjoy it. In the event it turned out to be a very pleasant tussle – right to the bitter end.

    Shame about the error in the COWBOY HAT clue – it’s obviously fixable and very amusing use of material. Must say I didn’t notice it at the time – too busy chuckling.

  10. Ah yes, indeed…..silly me, thanks. I missed the ‘RT’ when I did it but Peter’s blog has it as ‘T’ (turned).

  11. Thanks, Tramp – despite a couple of blips, a good time overall! Loved the clue for BATH.

    Thanks, PeterO, for the blog.

    @PeterO and Aoxomoxoa@6: In 10, I parsed the “TR” bit as RT (abbr for ‘right’) being ‘turned over’. (I think that works better than T coming from ‘turned’ and only the R from ‘right’.)

  12. Sorry to the posters @7, 8, 9 – your comments had appeared by the time I completed typing mine! 🙁

  14. Thanks Peter. I know what you mean, but is was all gettable without aids (never heard of Shearer, but it didn’t matter). Some, like ACORNS, I just accepted with a shrug, so thanks for the parsing. And to Tramp, for a good test and for popping by.

  15. I’m another who struggled with this one and did not find it very entertaining.
    Thanks for the blog Peter: minor typo at 27a (Hoe for How), and I’m sure you are right that the superhero is Batman, who might refer to his bath taps as Bat H and Bat C, but I found this one of several very overcontrived clues this morning.

  16. Thanks for the blog, PeterO. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it much – I would willingly have swapped with you yesterday! 😉

    I certainly enjoyed it as much as ever: even I have heard of Alan Shearer! – and, as a great tennis fan, well remember Pat Cash clambering up the stand to greet his family after his Wimbledon win.

    As usual with Tramp clues, you can solve most of them without knowing all the references but there’s always the extra relish if you do – like Dawn French as the Vicar of Dibley, Michael Fish’s unfortunate remark about the hurricane and Strictly Come Dancing as a TV programme, all of which might be lost on those outside the UK, I suppose. I always know there are things I might be missing, as in the Mad Men puzzle I blogged, where I knew nothing about the theme, but there are always people who can put us right.

    A plea: if you take Tramp up on his request, please don’t suggest anything too esoteric. Think of the poor blogger – you know what a thorough researcher Tramp is!

    Many thanks, as ever, Tramp – I loved it and, like JS, I never noticed the extra O.

  17. Hi Eileen. I see you’ve picked up on the UK TV allusions but I presumed that Tramp intended the theme to be USA linked – in view of the date – but perhaps I’m wrong. 😉

  18. I think in 26a publicity = PR, ‘stunt’ is there to show the abbreviation. Quite clever I thought.

    Now, what’s two + 1 ?

  20. Hi NeilW

    Oops – I hadn’t really registered that all my examples were UK TV. I didn’t mean to suggest that was a theme. I’m sure you’re right.

  22. JR wasn’t shot in that series, but Bobby died. The climactic scene was of Pammy finding him in the shower and him saying “Good morning”

    I didn’t watch it either, but it was in all the papers. (Several people thought that’s when Dallas really jumped the shark…)

  23. My goodness, Tramp! The misdirection in your puzzles extends even to your comments (@2) upon them. Typical bluenose. 🙂 🙂

  24. Reading Partridge’s Dictionary of Historical Slang, it would seem that just about every word in the English language has been used at some time to refer to the male or female pudendum. It seems to be the same with indicators of anagrams. Why does “criminal” imply mixture for example ? Torquemada will be turning in his grave (not Tomas de)!

  26. Thanks Tramp & PeterO.

    Thoroughly enjoyable despite the missing halo on the COWBOY HAT. 😉

    ElRubio @24; my Oxford Thesaurus has ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ as synonyms of criminal as an adjective, so I don’t see the problem.

    I’ve seen the Harry Potter trick somewhere else – ah, it’s Tramp again: Guardian Prize Puzzle 26250. [Amazing what you can find with the 225 searches!]

  27. endwether @ 18 Even if read as ‘stunt publicity’, it’s rather a stretch from a curtailed ‘publicity’ to an abbreviation for ‘public relations’.

  28. Thanks to Tramp for his comments – and for the puzzle. I echo Eileen’s plea over themes @16; I am sure that I would have savored this puzzle more without the pressure of having to get a blog out before turning into a pumpkin.
    Thanks to Gaufrid etc for the corrections – sorry, ulaca @27, I would definitely put endwether’s take on ‘publicity stunt’ in the plus column.
    Incidentally, I did not have to mine the darker recesses of my memory for Pat Cash in 5A; it so happens that an American commentator at the current Wimbledon recalled that, on his victory over Ivan Lendl in the ’87 final, someone had quipped that Cash is better than a Czech

  29. I have just turned on the TV for Wimbledon, and for some reason the subtitles were on. I was surprised when they informed me that Jack Nick Louse was in the Royal Box.
    Now if I can remember may one times table …

  30. Thanks PeterO for the blog. I have a correct solution for every answer but in half or dozen or so cases with no idea why, other than some sort of link to the definition part.

  31. Thanks PeterO and others for explaining the wordplay of 6d and the definition of 4d. (Am I alone in also not understanding the definitions of 17,24a, and 26a?)

  32. PARIS HILTON is &lit.

    ‘Harry’ and ‘Dancing’ in the big anagrams are very good.

    Tramp’s usual ‘themed clueing’ can lead to very contrived, even ugly, surfaces. And sometimes this is the case with his unthemed clues. This was my first feeling about 10 and 11. But the elliptical link from ‘Box’ to ‘wing guage’ via the infamous weather forecast is very impressive.

  33. David Mop @31

    Wikipedia informs us that PARIS HILTON, 17/24, was hailed as “New York’s leading it girl” in 2001 (and that she has been convicted of misdemeanors such as reckless driving and drug possession, so that the clue has an extended definition). I agree that Britney Spears in 26A is not the first person to come to my mind as a PRIMA DONNA.

  36. PeterO @33.

    Thank you. Perhaps I should get out more (or less?) in order to keep up with the gossip.

  37. I really enjoyed this. I thought the ‘general knowledge’ was a refreshing change from the usual composers, operas and Shakespeare characters. I think Prima Donna was my favourite and it’s fair to say Miss Spears has had her moments!

  38. Thanks all
    I quite enjoyed this. Like others I struggled with 19ac (last in).
    I cannot decid whether 27 ac is clever or a right liberty!
    21d impressed me for its surface.
    I cannot agree with muffin @8. His comments could be applied to almost anything which might be unknown to some ,anemometer, electro chemistry etc etc.

  39. Super-tramp some lovely stuff shame about cowboy hat but getable anyway.
    Perhaps this isn’t the best place for ideas Neil, walls have ears and all that.
    Paris Hilton, well that is &lit make no mistake. No need for a HIGNFY allegedly.

  40. Late to have a go at this one but I loved the puzzle. Really good fun. Thanks Tramp.

    I’m glad I did not have to blog it though. Well done PeterO!

  41. Found the puzzle very difficult. Got a few clues and then got a lot by pattern matching. Could not explain them at all. Thanks for the explanations.

  43. Most enjoyable, indeed, Jim.
    But not always that contemporary.
    Best? Shearer? 🙂
    Britney Spears a prima donna?
    Yes, perhaps, in 2011 – ah well, time flies.

    I liked the anagrams in 28,7 and 9d.
    Yes, Harry Potter has been done before but here we have a really concise clue.
    Also nice 18d, although I admit my cryptic heart immediately separated Dawn from French – and rightly so.

    Altogether good stuff but Tramp’s previous puzzle was even better (despite his prediction of England vs Italy 🙂 ).

    WoW (Winner of the Week) = Nutmeg.

  44. Hi Sil,

    No doubt some traditionalists would complain that Britney and Dallas are too contemporary for crosswords!

  45. Thanks folks.

    I picked Britney as a primadonna because I was trying to describe her kiss with Madonna at the MTV awards. This is why I stretched PR a bit which I probably wouldn’t do nowadays.

    Neil

  46. I thoroughly enjoyed this but had to finish it this morning due to World Cup football and excess beer! I couldn’t finish the NW corner after Brazil v Colombia.

    Not sure about snide = supercilious and although I knew group was probably music related I could bring Nirvana to mind last night. ( For that type of group I’m more familiar with The Who, Stones, Pink Floyd, Groundhogs, Focus, 10CC, Wishbone Ash etc etc etc. )

    This was my puzzle of the week. (Sorry Sil, the Nutmeg was my least favourite puzzle for the year!. Different strokes etc …)

    Thanks to PeterO and Tramp

  47. I’m late commenting on this, an entertaining and fairly tough challenge that we finished in the pub after work. The NW corner held out longest – took a long time to see DREAM (which I liked), last in was SNIDELY. No problems with any of the “cultural” references, but I’m probably the right age for most of them…

    Thanks to Tramp and PeterO

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