The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26363.
I found this quite a tough solve, with its theme of the upcoming vote on Scottish independence, very topical, even if I have not been following it too closely.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CANONS | One splits Conservative ministers (6) |
| An envelope (‘splits’) of AN (‘one’) in CONS (‘Conservative’). | ||
| 4 | IGNORE | Disregard fantastic region … (6) |
| An anagram (‘fantastic’) of |
||
| 9 | SEMI | … by disregarding leader over penultimate contest (4) |
| A reversal (‘over’) of [t]IMES (‘by’) without its first letter (‘disregarding leader’). SEMI for semi-final. | ||
| 10 | GERALD FORD | Former political leader‘s red flag flying over road (6,4) |
| GERALD F, an anagram (‘flying’) of ‘red flag’ plus O (‘over’) plus RD (‘road’). | ||
| 11 | ANNEXE | Dismiss welcoming news before European expansion (6) |
| An envelope (‘welcoming’) of NN (‘news’ i.e. N for new repeated) plus E (‘European’) in AXE (‘dismiss’). | ||
| 12 | See 23 | |
| 13 | SPLUTTERS | Confusedly articulates odds — bets not strong (9) |
| A charade of SP (starting price, ‘odds’) plus [f]LUTTERS (‘bets’) without the F (‘not strong’). | ||
| 15 | PELE | No 10 was often on his back in leadership election (4) |
| No, not Downing Street. A hidden answer (‘in’) in ‘leadershiP ELEctions’. | ||
| 16 | PICT | Old Scot selected, according to reports (4) |
| A homophone (‘according to reports’) of PICKED (‘selected’). | ||
| 17 | STEAMSHIP | Joins in, taking time for craft (9) |
| An envelope (‘taking’) of T (‘tine’) in SEAMS (‘joins’) plus HIP (in’). | ||
| 21 | STURGEON | Scottish Nationalist in street to press rejection of No (8) |
| A charade of ST (‘street’) plus URGE (‘press’) plus ON, a reversal (‘rejection’) of ‘no’. Nicola Sturgeon is the Deputy First Minister of Scotland, and Deputy Leader of the Scottish National Party. | ||
| 22 | See 3 | |
| 24 | PENICILLIN | Enter tentatively; one left, entering separately for medical course? (10) |
| An envelope (‘entering’) of I (‘one’) and L (‘left’) ‘separately’ in PENCIL IN (‘enter tentatively’) | ||
| 25 | GOAT | Attack fool (4) |
| A charade (if you can call it that) of GO AT (‘attack’). | ||
| 26 | See 27 | |
| 27,26 | SECOND BALLOT | “Vote Scotland” — detailed blog rewritten around English (6,6) |
| An envelope (‘around’) of E (‘English’) in SCONDBALLOT, an anagram (‘rewritten’) of ‘Scotland’ plus ‘blo[g]’ cut short (‘detailed’). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CLEAN UP | Bank stopping competition to make big profits (5,2) |
| An envelope (‘stopping’) of LEAN (‘bank’) in CUP (‘competition’). | ||
| 2 | NOISE | “No to Independence” group nearly clash (5) |
| A charade of ‘no’ plus I (‘Independence’) plus SE[t] (‘group’) cut short (‘nearly’). | ||
| 3,22 | NO GREAT SHAKES | Average odds to keep North Sea gas supply (2,5,6) |
| An anagram (‘supply’) of KE (‘odds to KeEp’) plus ‘North Sea gas’. | ||
| 5 | GALAXY | Careless, entertained by happy host (6) |
| An envelope (‘entertained by’) of LAX (‘careless’) in GAY (happy’). | ||
| 6 | OFFENDERS | Ones at back after rotten criminals (9) |
| A charade of OFF (‘rotten’) plus ENDERS (‘ones at back’). | ||
| 7 | EARLOBE | Each garment covers large part of body (7) |
| An envelope (‘covers’) of L (‘large’) in EA (‘each’) plus ROBE (‘garment’). | ||
| 8 | FRUSTRATINGLY | In a maddening way, shrewd Brown standing inside (13) |
| An envelope (‘inside’) of RUST (‘brown’) plus RATING (‘standing’) in FLY (shrewd’). | ||
| 14 | UNCORDIAL | Hostile unionist and nationalist drink together (9) |
| A charade of U (‘unionist’) plus N (‘nationalist’) plus CORDIAL (‘drink’). | ||
| 16 | POTHERB | One of two in lead — one’s used to season? (7) |
| An envelope (‘in’) of OTHER (‘one of two’) in PB (chemical symbol, ‘lead’). | ||
| 18 | ABSENCE | Need muscles for this reason? Top’s removed (7) |
| A charade of ABS (‘muscles’) plus [h]ENCE (‘for this reason’) without its first letter (‘top’s removed’). | ||
| 19 | IRELAND | Country secure following anger (7) |
| A charade of IRE (‘anger’) plus LAND (‘secure’). | ||
| 20 | MEXICO | State in introduction to match: “team wearing green” (6) |
| An envelope (‘wearing’) of XI (eleven, ‘team’ in soccer, for example) in M (‘introduction to Match’) plus ECO (‘green’). Green is also the home colour of the Mexican National soccer team. | ||
| 23,12 | ANGLO-SAXONDOM | Go Salmond in tatters! Alex gutted — no backing to enter race (5-8) |
| An envelope (‘to enter’) of AX (‘AleX gutted’) plus ON (‘no backing’) in ANGLOSDOM, an anagram (‘in tatters’) of ‘go Salmond’. Alex Slamond is the First Minister of Scotland and the leader of the Scottish National Party. | ||
Got off to a good start on this and with a few crossers in it went quite smoothly. Nice light handling of the theme – not at all overdone.
Ticked 17a and 20d.
Stared at GOAT (25d) for an age trying to make it mean “attack” – see it now – doh – so many thanks PO.
Thanks also to Tramp for the fun.
4 is an anagram of ‘region’. Fix it quick before anyone else notices.
Oops – GOAT is 25a of course.
enjoyed this….even though the theme is Scottish vote only one answer 21ac is directly connected to it. 14d is my favorite. Thanks Tramp and PeterO
I’m speechless. This was scheduled for next Thursday, the day of the vote.
It’s my mistake. I got a proof with today’s date on it — I can’t read.
Thanks, PeterO, for a great blog and Tramp for another super puzzle.
As ilippu says, you don’t need to have been following the theme too closely in order to solve the puzzle – that’s part of the genius of Tramp’s puzzles – but, if you do know something about it, it adds even more to the enjoyment.
I found this a very rewarding bit of a struggle – not least in the parsing of some of the clues, so there were several ahas and wry smiles. 15ac was brilliantly misleading and I liked 13ac, 17ac, 24ac, 3,22dn, 8dn, 20dn and 23,12dn a lot, too. [Among others.]
Many thanks, Tramp, for the fun. You must be gutted but I’m sure you mind a lot more than we do. The referendum is so very much in the news that it might as well be today.
This was mostly too hard for me, but with PeterO’s help really enjoyed the parsing.
I liked 17a, but tried to use the word team, teams up ….
Thank you Tramp and PeterO.
Thanks Tramp and PeterO
Seemed to be on Tramp’s wavelength today and completed most of this on the train ride home.
Finished in the SW corner with UNCORDIAL, POTHERB (my favourite clue of a very good lot) and STURGEON (who I hadn’t heard of before this – but clearly derived from the clue).
Neat, unobtrusive theme which fits in with our news as well …
Not such an unobtrusive theme if you live in Scotland. Being able to escape the neverendum is much preferable to finding it cropping up unexpectedly. Oh well.
Very good puzzle as we’ve come to expect from Tramp. Loved 18dn and 15ac especially.
I hope Tramps’s reference in 15a to Pele being “often on his back” was because he was often upended by carthorse defenders unable to legally dispossess him. These days players are more often on their backs because they have performed a double pike with twist when a waft of air blows in their direction as a defender breathes on them. Euphemistically called simulation, rather than cheating. See Ashley Young of Man United for the prime exponent.
Oh, and I enjoyed the crossword when not getting hot under the collar about today’s sloppy sporting morals. I must get out more. Though not to football matches, evidently.
Like Cookie @8 I found this was mostly too hard for me. I finished (apart from 9a) but with too many answers coming by guessing rather than by solving the clues. No fun 🙁
Some of the clues in this puzzle are immense even by Tramp’s standards – cf. “21 ac”, “23,12” and “27,26”.
Thanks once again old chap and thanks for the blog Peter.
Very enjoyable although quite hard. Thanks to Tramp and PeterO. Particularly liked PENICILLIN and ANGLO-SAXONDOM.
Tramp @5 & 6
What is there to say but that the best-laid schemes… Thanks for dropping by.
monkeypuzzler @12
At one stage I intended to include a thumbnail of Pele in his number 10 shirt for Mexico – in his day it was generally yellow with green trim.
Thank you to PeterO for an estimable blog.
I loved the challenge of this puzzle: as Rorschach says: “immense”.
Great puzzle although I had to work hard to solve it. GO AT and SEMI were the last ones in. Some seem surprisingly easy now they’re in but that isn’t how it looked earlier.
Thanks Tramp.
I found this enjoyable but quite tricky. I had the most trouble in the bottom half, not helped by thinking that the bottom clue was 26/27 rather than 27/26. STURGEON was my LOI from the wordplay after UNCORDIAL and MEXICO.
Churlish I know, PeterO, but Pele was Brazilian, and Brazil still do play in Yellow with green trim
I found this a workmanlike puzzle which slowly yielded.
Strange that the “theme” was almost exclusively in the clues with only one entry in the grid!
What is the purpose of the ellipses between 4A and 9A. (Just something to confuse us?)
Thanks to PeterO and Tramp
monkeypuzzler –
I took “on his back” to refer to the number 10, usually, being on the shirt he wore, as in “No 10 was often on his back”.
I exactly echo Rorschach’s view; and would add 15ac as particularly nice.
Bravo Tramp!! And thanks to PeterO.
Nearly all of Tramp’s puzzles involve this “themed clueing”. It means that the solver can complete the puzzle without special knowledge, even when the theme is, as is sometimes the case, rather recondite.
The ellipses mean that 9 makes sense when read together with 4 and helps conceal the ‘by’ for TIMES device.
Yes, rhotician, you’re right, nearly all of Tramp’s puzzles involve this “themed clueing”.
But to come back to what Brendan calls “strange”, he often weaves the theme into the solutions too.
Perhaps, Tramp, sensible as he is, didn’t want to make a statement.
I like the setter Tramp (or Jambazi, haven’t seen him for a long time) very much but find his clueing at times not the ultimate in elegance. The unavoidable result of wanting to include so many of these theme words.
[hope he’s not going to slap me in the face at one of the next S&Bs for being a teeny weeny bit critical]
Today’s puzzle I found a lot ‘brighter’, one with a lot more ‘flow’.
I would like to echo Rorschach @14.
I think the ellipsis 4/9 is justified by the repeated use of ‘disregard(ing)’. As rhotician says, together they make sense (and are as such part of the theme).
Really enjoyable crossword with, apart from the ‘long’ ones, 15ac as a particular highlight – even if Kathryn’s Dad thinks there should be less footie in crosswords.
Thanks Sil and rhotician.
I saw both those uses of the ellipses and that was my point. They were there to misdirect us from the “by”. However, normally ellipses indicate that the consecutive clues are linked in some way and not just that they can be read together. As far as I can see neither clue is linked to the other and there is no assistance in either for the other! This is a rather unfair misdirection in my opinion.
I think this misuse of ellipses has been discussed on here before.
Thanks for the great blog and for all the comments.
Sil: I can do elegance but it’s hard to get around three quarters of the puzzle to be themed whilst making every single clue as neat and elegant as the clues of a few other setters. Give it a go; it’s not easy. If I were to concentrate on being succinct then my crosswords wouldn’t be what I want them to be. Most people seem to like them as is. I’m in the Indy on Friday.
Neil
You don’t have to explain, Neil.
I know exactly what you mean, it is indeed not easy.
Please, don’t feel offended.
“Most people seem to like them as is”.
I do too.
Meanwhile, what I said about ‘elegance’ is something that I feel for a long time but was reluctant to say, as I admire your ability of treating themes in such a clever way enormously!
Just a quick thankyou to Tramp for enlivening a Friday in the Scottish Highlands, where it was surprisingly easy to avoid the referendum debate, which I had no intention of getting involved in from my English perspective. Not sure I’ve ever seen ANGLO-SAXONDOM before but I enjoyed that.