Good stuff from Rufus today, with the usual cryptic/double defs and nautical references. I particularly liked the definitions in 13ac, 25ac, 16dn and 17dn.
Across
1 Is he going in to discover it’s all done? (8)
FINISHED
=”all done”. IS HE going in to FIND=”discover”
5 Oriental sailor left a mark (6)
LASCAR
=”Oriental sailor” from the Indian subcontinent. L[eft], plus A, plus SCAR=”mark”
9 Lies in evil sins in beds (8)
CONSISTS
=”Lies in”. (sins)* in COTS=”beds”
10 Programme that may be debated a long time and amended (6)
AGENDA
=”Programme that may be debated”. AGE=”a long time”, plus (and)*
12 Tea and toast (5)
DRINK
=”Tea”; =”toast” as in raising a glass
13 Joins forces again, disturbing listeners (2-7)
RE-ENLISTS
=”Joins forces again”. (listeners)*
14 Shamefaced quartet of bluffers? (4-8)
FOUR-FLUSHERS
=”bluffers”, makers of empty boasts: a four-flush is a poker hand that is a card short of an actual flush. FOUR FLUSHERS might also describe a “Shamefaced quartet”
18 Usury appears to be very serious (4,8)
MEAN BUSINESS
=”to be very serious”. Usury could be described as a MEAN BUSINESS
21 Banks’ permits about to expire (9)
GRADIENTS
=”Banks”. GRANTS=”permits”, about DIE=”to expire”
23 Kipling’s wolf emerging from a lake (5)
AKELA
is a wolf in Kipling’s Jungle Book. (a lake)*
24 Ill stored (4,2)
LAID UP
=”Ill”; =”stored”
25 One who hasn’t made a score in years (8)
TEENAGER
cryptic def – a TEENAGER hasn’t made it to a score (twenty) years
26 He’s a right beast! (6)
ROTTER
R[ight] plus OTTER=”beast”, &lit=”He’s a right beast!”
27 Club doctor bound leg (8)
BLUDGEON
=”Club”. (bound leg)*
Down
1 Commercial set in new cafe may give a false impression (6)
FACADE
=”may give a false impression”. AD[vert]=”Commercial” in (cafe)*
2 Papal ambassador about to be accepted by new union (6)
NUNCIO
=”Papal ambassador”. C[irca]=”about”, accepted into (union)*
3 It smells awful when it goes off (5,4)
STINK BOMB
cryptic def, with the surface suggesting food going off.
4 Bold break-in using a jemmy? (12)
ENTERPRISING
=”Bold”. A “jemmy” is a crowbar, so breaking in using one of these might mean that you ENTER, PRISING
6 A spirited harpist? (5)
ANGEL
cryptic def
7 Case of foreign wine sent up to college head (8)
CANISTER
=”Case”. Reversal (“sent up”) of all of RETSINA=”foreign wine”, plus C[ollege]
8 Soldiers on ship have to accept turbulent seas or reconsider (8)
REASSESS
=”reconsider”. R[oyal] E[ngineers]=”Soldiers”, on SS=”ship”, accepting (seas)*
11 Aware of a rising sea but far from queasy (7,5)
FEELING SWELL
=”Aware of a rising sea”; =”far from queasy”
15 Spotted American inside — kept going (9)
SUSTAINED
=”kept going”. STAINED=”Spotted”, with US=”American” inside it
16 He ignores national customs (8)
SMUGGLER
cryptic def – the customs authorities are ignored, not local habits
17 One who doesn’t believe a lot can be changed (8)
FATALIST
cryptic def – “lot” in the sense of someone’s fate, rather than a large amount
19 A union measure (6)
LEAGUE
=”A union”; =”measure”
20 Not a Mr mistaken as Mrs (6)
MATRON
=”Mrs”. (Not a Mr)*
22 Get used to being in old city quarter (5)
INURE
=”Get used to”. IN plus UR=”old city” plus E[ast]=”quarter”
A most enjoyable start to the week.
Thanks, Manehi. I thought this was one of the better recent Rufuses, with none of the barely cryptic clues that sometimes weakens his otherwise fine offerings.
“weaken”, not “weakens”
Thanks Rufus and manehi
Nice pleasant solve … a bit of a breather after the end of last week !
Thought that TEENAGER was one of his best clues in ages. Forgot to go back and parse CANISTER properly.
Didn’t know ‘four-flushers’ so entered ‘four-blushers’ in hope – so one error for me. No complaints though.
Thanks, Manhei, needed you for FOUR-FLUSHERS which I’d not heard of and failed to derive.
Nice week, everyone.
Thanks Rufus and manehi
I found this both harder and more enjoyable than a typical Rufus. Some lovely clues – favourites included TEENAGER, BLUDGEON, ENTERPRISING and FATALIST.
I also liked SMUGGLER, but wouldn’t the clue be neater without the “national”? I also thought the “foreign” in 7d was superfluous.
I hadn’t come across FOUR-FLUSHERS before, and researching Kipling’s wolf explained to me why the Head of a Cub Scout group is called “Akela”.
….further to Akela, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle_Book_and_Scouting
A Rufus I actually enjoyed. I think it’s because the cryptic definitions (by far my least favorite flavor of clue, in any crossword) were wry and fun, unlike much of Rufus’s usual fare. A good cryptic def has to highlight an unexpected meaning of the words in the clue–in this crossword, “lot” in 17d, “customs” in 16d, and “score” in 25a. By contrast, “A spirited harpist” isn’t really doing anything special with “spirited,” so isn’t a very good clue.
Like most others, I had never heard of “four-flushers.” I’d assumed it was because it wasn’t part of American English, but apparently it’s not common in British usage either.
Thank you Rufus and manehi
Muffin @7 – I find that the “extra” words in 7d and 16d help the misdirection. The “national” in 7d makes me think of rites rather than excise, and “foreign” in 16d points me to a possible anagram. Without them the clues are rather easy, something Rufus is often disparaged for.
A voice to add to the chorus of approval. I thought the clue for ‘feeling swell’ was particularly good, and only the usury clue a little weak.
Thanks Rufus & manehi.
Collins gives FOUR-FLUSHERS as (US & Canadian, slang) so it is not surprising that most didn’t know it.
Pleasant puzzle with most of the cd’s being satisfying. I especially liked ENTER PRISING and CANISTER.
Another “four-blushers”, although no complaints from me either because I should have thought it through properly. It took me too long to see TEENAGER, although I wasn’t as happy with the clue as most of you seem to have been because a child under 13 also hasn’t reached 20 but isn’t a teenager. I didn’t get it until after I solved 19dn, a clue that I struggled with. I had ?E???E and I was interpreting “a union measure” as a CD that was referring to a kind of wedding dance until I finally considered a possible DD and saw LEAGUE.
Not bad for Rufus indeed. Struggled with LEAGUE, my last in, as did Andy B above, but ENTERPRISING and TEENAGER were prime examples of this type – both gave me a chuckle, too, which happens rarely with Rufus for me. Would have laughed some more if ALASTAIR COOK had been the answer to 25.
Four blushers from me, too, which kind of made sense in a blushing=shamefaced way, but poker terminology is mostly beyond me. Despite that, a nice start to the week. ENTERPRISING and CANISTER were excellent, and made me wonder if it’s possible to get a “restina canister” (presumably able to open at either end).
FATALIST and TEENAGER were both very good as well; I’ll sometimes complain about the quality of Rufus’s cryptic defs, but today I think he’s in good form.
Thanks manehi and Rufus
An enjoyable puzzle. I particularly liked ‘fatalist’, ‘teenager’ and ‘enterprising’.
I nearly got stuck on ‘akela’, getting a bit confused by misremembering the first dog in space, a German Shepherd (I think) called Laika.
Good stuff from Rufus! Very accessible but also very well done. Particularly like the clueing for TEENAGER, MEAN BUSINESS, SMUGGLER, and ROTTER. I agree with mrpenney@9 about “spirited harpist”- that was the one weak clue in the bunch.
Thank you for the blog, manehi – especially for the parsing of CANISTER: I got the word from the crosses and the definition but was clueless about how the clue worked!
Found this one of Rufus’s less straightforward offerings – both the NE and SW corners held me up and I was another who had never come across FOUR FLUSHERS before, so that was last in once I’d looked it up. Thought FATALIST was one of the better cds, liked MEAN BUSINESS too.
Thanks to manehi and Rufus
Thanks all
No complaints and rather superior for a Monday…..except 14 ac which I had never come across and coming here does not convince me that I should have chosen ‘flushers’ from all the other possibilities.
How does the bluff work if you are one short?
RCW @ 19
It’s a long time since I played poker, but the principle of a bluff is that you win the pot without having the best hand – the others give up. I’m not sure how you would indicate that you had a partial flush, though!
In fact, there is a longer term intention – if you are known to bluff, opponents might put more money in when you actually do have a good hand.
Muffin @20, in stud poker, the opponents can see the part of your hand that’s face up. That’s three cards, typically, in five-card stud games, and either three or four cards in a seven-card stud game (depending on the game). The bluff would be that they can see (e.g.) four hearts face up; you then bet as if your hole card is a fifth heart.
Much harder than usual Rufus.
Started with four feathers, then after getting sustained I changed the answer to four blushers which was still wrong!
Thanks Mr Penney – that makes a lot of sense.
I only played 5-card draw, (though an American acquaintance liked to invent new games whenever he was losing, and financed himself through a year at Uni that way, I always declined to take part!)
Yes, enjoyable for me too, and something of a rest after the recent run.
I liked MEAN BUSINESS, simply for an unexpected twist on a cliche.
Which reminds me (sorry if it’s old ground): I thought in French accented letters etc. featured separately in the alphabet?
If so, FACADE doesn’t quite work, needing a cedilla.
Many thanks one and all.
I sometimes think that one of Rufus’s better clues must have been done before. So today I searched for CANISTER. Second hit, after today’s, was a Rufus from March. But this was for RETSINA reversed in ‘canisters’. Further down was an exact match from 2011. As is often the case, it was by Dante in the FT.
Martin @24: Facade is an English word too by now, surely. And we ruthlessly strip almost all loan-words of their diacritical marks, pretty much as soon as we’ve decided not to repay the loan. Cedillas get the axe with particular dispatch.
Is Rufus holidaying in the States?
“Feeling Swell” and “Four-Flushers” (most untypical!)
Sorry but I found this the usual Rufus fare with just a couple of nice clues. (Not the US ones!)
OK. Monday over so let’s look forward to a good week.
Thanks to manehi and a big “thankee doodle dandy” to “Roof” 😉
After last week, welcome relief for the lower order solvers like me. Thanks for the explanations.
Another thoroughly enjoyable start to the week courtesy of rufus. Thankyou!