Another fairly typical Monday 5dn of nifty anagrams and double and cryptic [some more than others] definitions, with, characteristically, some nautical terms for good measure. Thank you, Rufus, for a pleasant start to my birthday.
Across
1 Put money on stock unit, a very good little earner (4,3)
CASH COW
CASH [money] + COW [‘stock unit’] – I like the surface
5 Criticise long dash (7)
PANACHE
PAN [criticise] + ACHE [long]
9 Alternative article in gold (5)
OTHER
THE [article] in OR [gold]
10 Offer fantastic reduction (9)
INTRODUCE
Anagram [fantastic] of REDUCTION
11 Enthronement of firm king’s naught to the country (10)
CORONATION
CO [firm] + R [king] + O [naught] + NATION [country]
12 An imbibing of French port (4)
ADEN
AN round [imbibing] DE [of French] – another nice surface: of course, port comes from Portugal and I have just read, ‘Port became very popular in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703, when merchants were permitted to import it at a low duty, while war with France deprived English wine drinkers of French wine.’
14 Material allowances in cuts (11)
LACERATIONS
LACE [material] + RATIONS [allowances]
18 Request for position in industry (11)
APPLICATION
Double definition
21 Food on the turn? (4)
TACK
Double definition – a zigzag sailing course and naval slang for food
22 Old man from Maine so well in retirement (10)
METHUSELAH
ME [Maine] + THUS [so] + reversal [in retirement] of HALE [well]
25 Female relative in liaison, showing off (9)
FLAUNTING
AUNT [female relative] in FLING [liaison]
26 Soldier in ebbing sea gets support (5)
AEGIS
GI [soldier] in reversal [ebbing] of SEA
27 High point of religious architecture (7)
STEEPLE
Cryptic definition
28 Like hell cats in a melee (7)
SATANIC
Anagram [in a melee] of CATS IN A
Down
1 Selection of superior quality (6)
CHOICE
Double definition
2 First signs of spring have arrived, let’s have a ball (6)
SPHERE
SP [first signs of SPring] + HERE [arrived]
3 Sing a carol, playing an instrument (3,7)
COR ANGLAIS
A neat anagram [playing] of SING A CAROL – but it would be quite difficult to do both at once!
4 It enables one to turn one’s hand to many things (5)
WRIST
Cryptic [?] definition
5 It’s up to Prior to provide an assortment (9)
POTPOURRI
Anagram [to provide] of UP TO PRIOR
6 Absence of agreement regarding recess (4)
NOOK
NO OK [absence of agreement]
7 A potboiler? (8)
CAULDRON
Cryptic [?] definition – I’d have expecteded some reference to the definition of potboiler
8 All the same, the head makes a regular appearance (8)
EVENNESS
EVEN [all the same] + NESS [head] – the definition makes a nice surface
13 Either rises quickly or doesn’t budge (6,4)
STANDS FAST
Double definition
15 Unusually fierce sea battle ends with it (9)
CEASEFIRE
Another neat anagram [unusually] of FIERCE SEA – and another nice surface
16 Art master’s pets are dogs (8)
MASTIFFS
MA’S [Art master’s] + TIFFS [pets] – my favourite clue: [I did think that ‘tiff’ and ‘pet’ were not quite the same thing but Collins has, for ‘tiff’, ‘a fit of ill-humour’ and Chambers, ‘a display of irritation’ – so that’s all right, then.]
17 Wise step in the present era (5,3)
SPACE AGE
PACE [step] in SAGE [wise]
19 Vessel — showing its nationality? (6)
FLAGON
A ship with its FLAG ON would be showing its nationality
20 In radiography sickness has a cure (6)
PHYSIC
Hidden in radiograPHY SICkness
23 Do they give feelings of elation to meteorologists? (5)
HIGHS
Double / cryptic definition – ‘a euphoric or exhilarated frame of mind, especially under the influence of a drug’ and another word for an anticyclone.
24 Cut price bargain (4)
SNIP
Double definition – which doesn’t quite work for me
Still don’t see TIFF = PET.
Tim
Collins – pet: a fit of sulkiness; pique.
Are we still in the space age? I suppose we are although the term sounds decidedly 1960s to me.
Happy birthday, Eileen – thanks for the blog.
Very many happy returns of the day Eileen, and thanks again for the blog.
I agree with you on ‘tack’ for 21a, but think that a case could also be made for ‘tuck’ if anyone opts for that: as a quilter’s husband, I know that ‘tuck’ can be used for turning the edge of fabric under before sewing when doing appliqué.
Hi Aoxomoxoa
That struck me, too – but Chambers has, ‘the present time when exploration of, and ability to travel in, space up to the limit of and beyond the earth’s atmosphereare are increasing’ – and only this morning I heard discussion on the radio about the possible location of a UK space port!
And I thought of TUCK, too, George – then I ‘checked’!
21a TUCK why not?
Thanks, birthday girl
Happy birthday Eileen
Thanks for an agreeable blog to an agreeable puzzle.
I had “tuck” for 21a, and would have happily left it if not for my habitual “check all”. It took me a minute to see the nautical version
Found this to be a pleasant interlude before sleep! Everything fitted nicely with no quibbles from me!
Have a nice day, Eileen!
I feel a bit mean now; @1, didn’t say happy birthday and was wrong about my question!
Happy birthday. Tim
Thanks, Tim. [You weren’t ‘wrong’ – that’s what we’re here for. 😉 ]
Thanks, Eileen, and happy birthday. A better than usual Rufus, I thought. I too had TUCK for 21a and NOON for 6d (Absence of agreement = NO; regarding = ON; and NOON is lunchtime, hence recess). Obviously NOOK is correct and better, but Rufus’s definitions can be loose (introduce = offer – really?)
Thanks Rufus and Eileen
Got TACK ‘wrong’ – with TUCK instead – know that it’s probably carelessness, but I seem to get more errors with this setter than any other. The annoying thing is that the correct answer is always marginally better … just like those multiple answer questions in Year 12 :(.
Happy Birthday Eileen … hope it’s a good one !! :).
Happy Birthday Eileen!
Thanks Rufus & Eileen; happy birthday. 🙂
I was another ‘tuck’ until I checked. I didn’t know the sulky meaning of pet. I was expecting potboiler to be some sort of cooker – didn’t much like that clue. 🙁
I liked CEASEFIRE and FLAGON.
Another typical Rufus puzzle. I was another “tuck” at 21ac and as far as I am concerned both answers are acceptable. Hugh should have weeded this clue out.
Happpy Birthday Eileen.
Another TUCK here, having first thought that TACO might be the answer, albeit one that requires more of an imaginatory stretch to allow it. Indeed, I’d say that both TUCK and TACK are acceptable; I think the former is actually the more obvious.
POTPOURRI held me up for some time, as I’d always thought it two words, but Chambers has put me right there.
TUCK for me too and I’m not counting that as a failure.
APPLICATION my favourite as I kept trying to put a position word into an industry word. Against that, is putting a ? after the clue enough to make 7d cryptic?
And happy birthday Eileen too
Happy birthday, Eileen.
As is so often the case with Rufus, the correct answer was the first thing that came to mind with 7d (WRIST), but seeing no wordplay of any kind, I dismissed it and moved on. Fortunately, that seems to be the only offending clue today.
Thanks Eileen (and a very happy birthday!) and Rufus
A pretty straightforward puzzle except for ‘tack’ and ‘tuck’ – I had the latter – and, for me, 6d where I carelessly wrote in ‘noon’.
Me too with the TUCK for TACK but apart from that the usual Rufus straightforwardness. Thank you to him and thank you and a very happy birthday to Eileen.
Happy Birthday Eileen! (You share the date with my late father, as well as Bastille Day)
I liked the anagram for COR ANGLAIS, but I was another with TUCK for the food/turn and thought 24d was a bit dodgy: maybe “price bargain” is supposed to be the second definition?
Like tupu I carelessly had NOON for 6d, thinking that “regarding recess” was a reversal of ON, but then you need to use “recess” again as the definition (a lunch break in a law court, for example, being a kind of recess).
Thanks, Andrew – and everyone else. I remember, when very young, looking up my birthday in Old Moore’s Almanack and finding ‘Bastille Day’ but it was a few more years before I discovered what that meant. If it had been some other setter, I might have looked for a Gallic theme or Nina but I don’t remember ever seeing a themed Rufus puzzle, except at Christmas.
I thought this was fairly straightforward even by Rufus standards, I had TUCK too, and didn’t realise there was an alternative. Last in was CAULDRON but PANACHE took longer.
Thanks to Rufus, Thanks and Happy Birthday to Eileen.
Thanks all
Last in 10 ac and nook.
NW corner was a ittle too easy but the rest settled down OK.
Sorry I forgot to add myself to the ‘tuck’ crowd and I failed to list all the birthdates of my relatives!
Thanks, Eileen, and bon anniversaire!
Everybody OK with “support” defining AEGIS? Chambers has “1. Protection 2. Patronage”, and it isn’t a great leap from either of those to “support.” But it seems to me that an aegis is protection from above one, not support from below.
5A (PANACHE) is a lovely clue: short, neat and clever.
Thanks, Eileen. I don’t often comment on Mondays but, heh! Joyeux Anniversaire!
I was another tucker. “It’s a SNIP” seemed OK to me.
Best wishes, Eileen.
For 21A, my first thought was TUCK, but on reflection I decided that TACK was a better fit, and of course has the nautical connection. For me,7D CAULDRON smacks of a double definition, not that it makes the clue much better, and some would object that it is just two flavours of the same word.
The TUCKERS are beating the TACKERS, because that’s what I put too. Rufus on good form here, I thought.
PET for SULK is fine; not sure that TIFF is the same thing. MARD, if you come from the Midlands would also be a synonym. IN A PET, IN A SULK, IN A MARD … take your pick. But not IN A TIFF.
Feliz Cumpleaños a nuestra estimada blogger.
Thanks to Eileen for the blog and Happy Birthday!
I managed to get TACK as my first attempt because I thought of ‘turn’ first.
I thought 7d was another of Rufus’s non-cryptic clues, also 27a.
On 19d I was looking for a nationality such as Belgian (too long) or Angolan (again too long). Eventually I saw the light. Well done Rufus for good misdirection.
Muchísimas gracias, Padre de Kathryn …
…as I said in the blog, Collins has, for ‘tiff’, ‘a fit of ill-humour’ – which surprised me, but it’s near enough to pet = sulkiness for me, I reckon.
Hi Miche @27
I’m sorry, your comment got overlooked with things happening in between.
I looked askance at AEGIS, too. It’s the shield of Zeus, which gives protection or defence, rather than support, but then I found ‘sponsorship’ in Collins, so I thought that allowed ‘support’ to squeak in. I did intend to comment, though.
Yes, thank you Eileen for all your bloggings. Hope you have a lovely day – you share your birthday with a 105 year old lady I used to look after (who was the mother of the UK’s current favourite baking personality!), so I hope that’s a good sign for your longevity potential.
[OK…my turn to do the Monday Rufus Rant!…]
As ever, some beautiful clues and some headscratching mysteries. Wouldn’t you as an editor say: “Hey Rufe – “A potboiler” is not a cryptic clue for a pot which you boil things in”? …unless you extend the clue to suck people into thinking you are talking about books.
This surely is the reason most of his unsatisfying CD/DD clues fail – that (assuming you are not an absolute beginner) the alternative (supposedly misleading) definition doesn’t suck you in at all. You don’t give a moment’s thought to the second way of reading the clue, because it is so obviously not the one you want. An example here is “High point of religious architecture (7)” – did anyone for one moment think that ‘High point’ meant ‘the apogee of the art of churchbuilding’? Likewise “It enables one to turn one’s hand to many things (5)” is so obvious, it just doesn’t mislead.
And without being misled there is no penny-dropping moment.
Of course his other speciality is Double Definitions where both definitions have the same derivation – something which is ‘choice’ is ‘select’ because it is the ‘selection’ you would make if offered a ‘choice’…so we’re just going around in circles! Likewise, a ‘bargain’ is a ‘snip’ because the ‘price’ has been ‘cut’.
Sorry to rant (again!), but some of his proper clues are so elegant that it is frustrating that these wayward clues always seem to come as part of the deal.
I know…there are more important things in life to be concerned about, and anyway I suppose it’s good that the setters all have their individual characters.
Hi Limeni
I do hear what you say – and I’ve indicated some of my misgivings in the preamble and my question marks in the blog.
I’d like to say in defence of Rufus that for those of us ingenues (?), he is pitched at the right level. I seldom get more than a couple of Paul’s contributions.
Yeah, Happy Birthday.
Nothing to say about the puzzle though.
Usual Rufus fare.
I note that his “loose” cluing is now beginning to ruffle several other feathers. 🙂
My route to TACK was as follows:
1) It’s TUCK
2) But it could be TACK
3) TACK is probably better for the definition.
4) But R is notoriously loose with his definitions so it could be TUCK.
5) Must be TACK however as it’s “nautical”!!
Bit of a condemnation of the Rufus style in my opinion. I would have imagined that the setter and the editor would try to avoid clues which have two or more possible answers but apparently not.
Still not as bad as many a Rufus.
Thanks to Eileen and Rufus
Yes, Eileen, I saw and agreed with all your question marks and raised eyebrows – I was just expressing it in a much less subtle and elegant way! 🙂
re Don’s comment – it had never occurred to me that Rufus’s uncryptic CDs/DDs might be deliberately designed to be easy for beginners due to their uncrypticness (because I personally find them to be his most difficult clues, as there is often little to go on…and I usually find myself searching for ‘something more’). But if they appeal to recent converts, then I am all in favour (as a passionate evangelist for cryptics)…and will henceforth happily stop moaning on the subject!
Many happy returns Eileen!
I thought this was OK, retraced my steps over TUCK, thinking of Mr. Squire’s maritime connections.
Only shrug was CAULDRON, “potboiler” which was, well, a potboiler among the other clues.
Many thanks all.
Hi Limeni
I always understood that Rufus on a Monday was deliberately pitched towards beginners like myself, and long may he continue! It’s the highlight of my Guardian week.
Hello Steve. Thanks – I wholeheartedly agree that it’s good for Monday to be a more accessible crossword, and I can completely understand how you look forward to the Rufus puzzles. I’m an admirer of 75% of his clues.
I’m actually really pleased to have had a little epiphany of understanding today – that the slightly unsatisfying nature of his ‘Cryptic Definition’/’Double Definition’ clues is probably only due to him deliberately trying to make them easier (and not due to lack of finesse).
With the other types of clues he has an enviable knack of simplifying, and yet still achieving a pleasing and sometimes elegant result. With the CDs/DDs however I do still think the results after the simplification are a bit more clunky – but at least I now understand why he’s doing it…which has resolved a long-running puzzlement for me!
I know…’getting out more’ might be a good option right now! 🙂
Liked the puzzle, am glad I could explain most clues without help.
I went for whist instead of wrist. All I knew was whist was a card game, may be one hand in it would become many things. Click on check, h went away. The first definition for wrist is very good, but the second part was not as good I think.
Thanku eileen for yr blog. I look forward to a rufus crossword as some of the other setters leave me scratching my head. At least with rufus, someone like me stands a chance of completing one and then enjoying the feeling of satisfaction that it brings. Thankyou rufus i LOVE yr crosswords!