Guardian 26,381 – Picaroon

by

A very entertaining puzzle from Picaroon, where I realised early on what was happening in 10 across (after getting 23/12), but that didn’t make the other thematic phrases any easier to solve. I particularly liked a number of cleverly-concealed definitions: 13a, 4d/24a, 13d, 16d, 18d and 22d among others. Many thanks to Picaroon.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
9. ACETYLENE Gas from wicked, heartless Tory, poor in speech (9)
ACE (slang for “good”, as is “wicked”) + T[or]Y + “lean”
10. SOLVE What you need to do here is 2 28, 4 24 across, 14 27, 23 12 and 20 1 (5)
The word is made up from the “head of State”, “second in cOmmand”, first in Line”, “centre of graVity” and “marE’s tail”
11. LYDIA Poem mostly about a girl (5)
Reverese of IDYL[L] + A
13. OFFERED Made tender love very loudly, flushed after ecstasy (7)
O + FF + E + RED
14,27. FIRST IN LINE Duck eggs returned in sack, about to be served? (5,2,4)
Reverse of NIL (zero, duck) + NITS in FIRE
17. THETA Soldiers here showing character (5)
Soldiers may be in THE T[erritorial] A[rmy] (now renamed as the Army Reserve in the UK, but there are others)
19. SOL Bit of scale from tailless fish (3)
SOL[e] – SOL is the fifth note of the musical scale, also known as soh or so
20,1. MARE’S TAIL God of war has time to don armour in bit of cloud (5,4)
ARES + T in MAIL. Cirrus clouds are sometimes known as “mares’ tails”, so I suppose a “bit of cloud” could be a single mare’s tail (as is needed for the theme)
21. CARRY-ON Redknapp, involved in scam, makes fuss (5-2)
[H]ARRY (Redknapp, cockney footballer and manager) in CON
22. PANICKY Screw going round prison in fear (7)
NICK (prison) in PAY (screw is slang for salary or pay)
26. TONAL Mandarin is thus found in Washington? Almost (5)
Hidden in washingTON ALmost. Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, meaning that different words can have the same sounds but with different relative pitches
29. HIT-AND-RUN Instructions to batsman, causing some sort of accident (3-3-3)
Double definition
Down
2,28. HEAD OF STATE Maybe Hollande‘s foe had to reform, say (4,2,5)
(FOE HAD)* + STATE – Hollande referring to the current President of France
3. MY FAIR LADY Musical boy tucking into extremely mouldy brownie (2,4,4)
LAD in M[ould]Y FAIRY
4,24across. SECOND IN COMMAND Support wages getting cut? Damn terrible vice (6,2,7)
SECOND (support) + INCOM[E] + DAMN*
5. VENGEFUL Destroying Gulf, even seeking to do harm (8)
(GULF EVEN)*
6. ASIA Many countries like raising capital (4)
AS (like) + reverse of A1
7. CLOISTER Lane found in court by queen’s secluded area (8)
LOIS (Lane, Superman’s girlfriend) in CT + ER
8. SEXY What Molly Bloom said about snatching kiss is erotic (4)
X in reverse of YES, a word that features prominently in the final chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses, which is a long, almost-unpunctuated stream-of-consciousness “soliloquy” by Molly Bloom
13. OPTIC Concerned with seeing old photo, taking time (5)
T in O PIC
15. RUMINATING Seaman admits hesitation in philosophical activity (10)
UM IN in RATING
16. NOSEY English child brought up close to Dorothy Parker may be so (5)
Reverse of E SON + [Doroth]Y
18. EUROCRAT Travelling troupe with car leaving piano player in Brussels (8)
(TROUPE CAR)* less P
19. SUNBATHE Get brown paper bag with no good article (8)
SUN (newspaper) + BA[G] + THE
22. PEDATE Games on a particular day could be footy (6)
PE + DATE – footy is “like a foot”!
23,12. CENTRE OF GRAVITY Criminal forgery in VAT etc? Force must act here! (6,2,7)
(FORGERY IN VAT ETC)
24. INST November 1st’s around this month (4)
N[ovember] in 1ST, INST being short for “instant” as formerly used for “this month” in (usually business) letters; “regarding yours of the 13th inst…”
25. MEEK William gave Kate rank, ultimately they will inherit! (4)
Last letters of williaM gavE katE ranK, and “the meek shall inherit the earth”

44 comments on “Guardian 26,381 – Picaroon”

  1. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew
    This looked daunting at first, but actually came out fairly easily, though I needed further explanation for TONAL and SEXY.
    I didn’t find “SOLVE” helped, in that I had to solve the contributing clues anyway – this made it more satisfactory than a typical themed crossword.
    I loved CLOISTER and NOSEY, and CARRY ON raised a groan!

  2. Many thanks, Andrew, for another great blog, and Picaroon for a puzzle which was pure delight from start to finish.

    MARE’S TAIL was my first of the theme answers and I already had S???E for 10ac, so it wasn’t too hard to guess what was going on but it certainly didn’t spoil the enjoyment. [I did spend a minute or two trying to make something of MARS in 20ac.]

    Like Andrew, I very much enjoyed the misleading / cleverly hidden definitions in a number of the clues – too many to itemise.

    I loved it all!

  3. Thanks Andrew. Agree: this was great. Unlike Eileen, MARE’S TAIL was my last in – an example of Picaroon’s cleverness in making me want Mars as the god. I got 14,27 soonish, and so the theme – but it was still tricky.

  5. Thank you Picaroon and Andrew, a very enjoyable puzzle and most helpful blog.

    Amongst others, I liked 14,27, it had me stumped, the answer came first, then the parsing.
    I, too, wasted time trying to fit Mars in as the god.
    ‘Footy’ in 22d made me think of some creature with many feet, a centipede for example.

  7. A real masterpiece today from Picaroon. Loved it all, especially the confusion over the two gods! I switched back and forth several times before the denarius dropped that they were both in there!

  8. Thanks, Andrew.

    I too liked this one, although I was getting frustrated when I got SOLVE and couldn’t understand what was going on. But that’s the right type of cleverness from the setter.

    I’m going for PANICKY as my favourite today, because of its perfect surface reading.

    Well done, Picaroon.

  9. Thanks Andrew and Picaroon.

    Just to agree with everyone that this was a delightful puzzle, which I found not too hard today.

    I was also another man from Mars for a long time.

  10. Thanks all
    Very enjoyable
    Last in and favourite ‘theta’.This is a constuctuinal theme which is by far the most acceptable type: no googling lists here.

  12. Thank you Picaroon for a challenge which (unlike yesterday’s) I could 10a without external help.

    Thanks too to Andrew for explaining the bits I solved without understanding, notably ‘wicked’, ‘Redknapp’, and what happens after page 10 of Ulysses.

  13. Great puzzle! I liked all the separations (13a, 16, 18, 19d), but my favourite moment was when the required meaning of “Lane” suddenly jumped out of CLOISTER.

  15. something for everyone in this. Last one in for me was pedate. Nothing too obscure and one of those crosswords that seemed to encourage me to keep going. Someone remarked a few weeks ago about puzzles that someone coming home from a hard days work could enjoy and persevere with (and learn from). This was one of those for me. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew.

  16. Absolute joy. Perfect for a lunchtime pub. Last in 22D Pedate, but not my favourite – with so many excellent clue surface readings in this puzzle, I will give my top clue nod to the tenderised 13A.

  17. Loved this one, but found it fairly straightforward by Picaroon standards, helped by seeing HEAD OF STATE and SOLVE very quickly. Last in was TONAL (a nice aha moment) after RUMINATING. Too many favourites to list them all, MARES TAIL was probably the best because of the possible misdirections involving Mars. MEEK amused me to. PEDATE was the least familiar word of the day, fairly clued so no complaints.

    Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.

  19. Hi everyone! We also got sidetracked thinking Mars! & also ‘screw’ for pay is still confusing me, tho we did work it out… Is it a certain kind of slang?!!

  20. Thanks to Pacaroon for an awesome puzzle, it felt like cross-training and Andrew for the blog which I needed for Eurocrat. I got permanently stuck on sports.

    @Andrew: I think in 1 across ‘poor in speech’= sounds like lean = lene.

  21. An absolute joy! Captivating! And LilSho @19, it is indeed slang for wages. Yes! As Molly has it! Particularly fond of ‘Arry, as a Spurs fan. Theta also LOI.

  22. This was a delight!

    I haven’t posted for quite some time, having nothing new to add to earlier birds’ comments.

    Thanks Andrew for clearing up the gaps in my knowledge re Redknapp and Joyce; on the other hand, the Greek god of war and Superman’s girlfriend came to me the moment I read the clues, which greatly helped towards eventually solving the puzzle – though 10ac was almost my last in 🙂

  25. Quite a good puzzle. I got CENTRE OF GRAVITY early on which gave an inkling of the theme. I thought ASIA rather weak but the theme was quite good. PEDATE was the last in. Somehow I didn’t find this as enjoyable as everyone else seems to have done.

  27. Cricket question: In baseball, there is actually a play called a hit-and-run. (In which the runner on 1st (usually) or 2nd base starts running when the ball is delivered, instead of waiting for it to be hit, with the hope that he can reach base before the ball gets to the infielders (if it does), thus negating the possibility of a double play and reaching the next base safely regardless of what happens to the batter (and maybe rounding all the way to home if the ball is struck for a hit). It’s chancy for various reasons, so not always called for.)

    Does cricket have something similar? I don’t see the percentage in cricket in the non-striking batsman (what’s he called?) running before contact…but maybe you use hit-and-run to mean something else? Or is the intent of the clue just generally you instruct batsmen to hit, and to run?

  28. Thanks, Andrew.

    An excellent puzzle to come home to, having been away for ten days (without access to the Grauniad crossword).

    Splendid use of a theme, with too many good clues to enumerate. My entry to the working of the puzzle was through getting the S—E of 10a very early, followed by HEAD OF STATE, which gave the game away. I have to say that I got all of the other linked answers from crossing letters and the definitions, rather than the cryptic wordplay, but that didn’t dampen my enthusiasm at all.

    Like others, I did reckon that ‘God of war’ could possibly be Mars, but I had Ares in mind at the same time (and, at risk of sounding even more supercilious than usual, I also considered Thor!).

  29. mrpenney @27
    There is a form of cricket designed for young children (up to about 10, say) that has the rule that if the ball is hit, a run must be attempted, wherever the ball has gone. This makes for a quick game, with plenty of run-out practice. It’s more generally referred to as “tip and run”, though.

  30. I’m with Peter Aspinall on this one. Too many gimmes, really, for the average well-read solver, eg MEEK and NOSEY. More like a quickie with a theme, really.

  32. Late start for me today but what a fantastic puzzle. It took me three of the thematics before I twigged what was happening at 10a. LYDIA last in.

    Having tried to set the odd amateurish grid myself from time to time, I have no idea at all how Picaroon can come up with something as ingenious as this. Fantastic job, setter!

  33. If anyone else like Beery Hiker hasn’t attempted to read Ulysses yet, or has tried but given up, may I recommend reading it alongside a reader’s companion such as Terence Killeen’s Ulysses Unbound, which, for me at least, rendered it not just readable but hugely enjoyable and very funny too.

    Rather like these cryptic puzzles in fact – I’m really beginning to get the hang of them thanks to Fifteensquared.

  38. Thanks, muffin @ 29. Always good to increase my knowledge. (I’ve watched maybe six hours of cricket, total, in my lifetime. I like the game, but it’s just not often available here.)

  39. mrpenney@ 38
    I’ve never understood why Americans haven’t taken to it – it’s chock full of statistics!

  41. Very enjoyable, delightful, pure delight, great, absolute joy, awesome, excellent, faultless, fantastic, superb, a real pleasure.

    I agree with you all!

    It wasn’t actually very difficult but so good.
    Plus a bonus at 10ac.
    Clever, very clever.

    Thanks Andrew.
    Hope to see you tomorrow in “that long-awaited ITV series starting on Monday” ….

  42. What a tour de force; surely one of the best I have ever seen. I savoured each and every one of the letters that went into 10Across. What a magnificent solve.

    Thank you Picaroon

  43. Well it’s nice to have one that isn’t full of mistakes 🙂

    Actually Picaroon has turned up to meets, and is clearly a man who knows what he’s about. Good bloke, great compiler, I always enjoy solving his.

    Everyone should read Ulysses btw. And Finnegans Wake. And The Wasteland. And Four Quartets. And all of Romantic poetry. Just make sure the titles start with ‘The Annotated …’ and you’ll be okay. If you’re lacking in erudition, as I am, in any case. I bet Eileen reads it straight.

  44. Thanks Picaroon and Andrew

    I echo the comments above – this was excellent !

    Feel very dull as MARE’S TAIL was my second last in … and only then did the penny drop on what was going on at 10a.

    Just quality clues everywhere.

Comments are closed.