The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26416.
A puzzle in the Goldilocks zone – neither too easy nor too hard (I found the left half more of a struggle). There is a mini-theme of parlour games.
| Across | ||
| 9 | ISOMETRIC |
Revealed by Houdini, some trick relating to muscular contraction (9)
A hidden answer (‘revealed by’) in ‘HoudinI SOME TRICk’.
|
| 10 | END UP |
Turn out to be headless spoof (3,2)
[s]END UP (‘spoof’) without its first letter (‘headless’).
|
| 11 | SHOTGUN |
Sexy girl primarily on page three? It might get game birds (7)
An envelope of HOT (‘sexy’) plus G (‘Girl primarily’) in SUN (‘on page three‘)
|
| 12 | DROPS IN |
3 of wrong visits (5,2)
A charade of DROP (LET GO, the answer to ‘3’) plus SIN (‘wrong’).
|
| 13 | MOON |
Second working satellite (4)
A charade of MO (‘second’) plus ON (‘working’).
|
| 14,22,23 | ELECTRONIC MAILBOXES |
One mobile Scalextric set out — dispatch to these stores? (10,9)
An anagram (‘set out’) of ‘one mobile scalectrix’.
|
| 16 | LAY DOWN |
Make love to broken record (3,4)
A charade of LAY (‘make love to’) plus DOWN (‘broken’)
|
| 17 | SAMURAI |
Fighter backing America, Action Man initially enters endless attack (7)
An envelope (‘enters’) of A M (‘Action Man initially’) in SU, a reversal (‘backing’) of US (‘America’) plus RAI[d] (‘endless attack’).
|
| 19 | RUBIK’S CUBE |
Rampant Rabbit oddly bucks round bend (middle of sex toy) (6,4)
An envelope (’round’) of U (‘bend’) in RBIKSCUB, an anagram (‘rampant’) of RBI (‘RaBbIt oddly’) plus ‘bucks’ (the only element that is reordered), plus E (‘middle of sEx’).
|
| 22 |
See 14
|
|
| 24 | TWISTER |
Game ’60s dancer (7)
Double definition. I was not familiar with the game, but it sounds interesting at the right sort of party.
|
| 25 | UTOPIAN |
Turn to softly, almost romantic (7)
A charade of U (‘turn’) plus ‘to’ plus PIAN[o] (‘softly, almost’).
|
| 26 | ENEMA |
Form of medication — drug going the wrong way, so be it? (5)
A charade of E (‘drug’) plus NEMA, a reversal (‘going the wrong way’) of AMEN (‘so be it’).
|
| 27 | ELEMENTAL |
Basic header from footballer — off his head? (9)
A charade of [p]ELE (‘footballer’) without the first letter (‘header from’) plus MENTAL (‘off his head’).
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | DISSIMILARITIES |
Contrasts left one girl upset in diaries about sex (15)
An envelope (‘in’) of SSIMIL, a reversal (‘upset’) of L (‘left’) plus I (‘one’) plus MISS (‘girl’) in another envelope (‘about’) of IT (‘sex’) in ‘diaries’.
|
| 2 | MONOPOLY |
Starts to order one My Little Pony grooming game (8)
An anagram (‘grooming’) of OOML (‘starts to Ordar One My Little’) plus ‘pony’.
|
| 3 | LET GO |
Release toy in time, on the contrary (3,2)
An envelope (‘in … on the contrary’) of T (‘time’) in LEGO (‘toy’).
|
| 4 | FRANKLIN |
Soul singer’s father cut joint at home (8)
A charade of FR (‘father’) plus ANKL[e] (‘cut joint’) plus IN (‘at home’), for Aretha Franklin.
|
| 5 | ACIDIC |
Like tart? Heavy metal band picks up two, separately (6)
A complex envelope (‘picks up’) of I and I (‘two’) ‘separately’ in AC/DC (‘heavy metal band’)
|
| 6 | MELODRAMA |
Mad Men’s lead role — a sad performance (9)
An anagram (‘sad’) of ‘mad’ plus M (‘Men’s lead’) plus ‘role a’.
|
| 7 | EDISON |
English inventor current for Yankee inventor (6)
A charade of E (‘English’) plus DISON, which is DYSON (‘inventor’, the first one) with the Y replaced by I (‘current for Yankee’). The first inventor might be Freeman Dyson, theoretical physicist and mathematician, or James Dyson, inventor of a vacuum cleaner. James is English, Freeman English-born, and Edison Yankee, but the two nationalities in the clue also form pat of the wordplay.
|
| 8 | SPINE-CHILLINGLY |
Crave mostly hot food, filling solely in way that shocks (5-10)
An envelope (‘filling’) of PINE (‘crave’) plus CHILL[i] (‘mostly hot food’ – often with one L) in SINGLY (‘solely’).
|
| 15 | JOCKSTRAP |
Judge caught in fine, small net — support for sportsmen? (9)
A charade of J (‘judge’) plus an envelope (‘in’) of C (‘caught’) in OK (‘fine’) plus S (‘small’) plus TRAP (‘net’).
|
| 17 | SUBBUTEO |
Be out injured after reserve game (8)
A charade of SUB (‘reserve’) plus BUTEO, an anagram (‘injured’) of ‘be out’.
|
| 18 | REALISTS |
About ace tips, they’re practical (8)
A charade of RE (‘about’) plus A (‘ace’) plus LISTS (‘tips’).
|
| 20 | BRIDES |
British trips — do they have trains? (6)
A charade of B (‘British’) plus RIDES (‘trips’).
|
| 21 | CORSET |
Shaper of body, no pressure to model (6)
A charade of COR[p]SE (‘body’) without the P (‘no pressure’) plus T (‘model’).
|
| 23 |
See 14
|
|
Thank you PeterO. I found the left half more of a struggle too.
Correction: it was the right half rather than the left where I had more of a struggle!
Thanks Tramp and PeterO
I thought it was going to be difficult, but I got 1d early, so everything then fell into place quite easily. I liked it on the whole, but I thought the clue for LET GO was a bit clumsy – “on the contrary” was only needed because of the odd construction; and the phrase should have been separated by more than a comma for it to make sense.
A “utopian” might have unrealistically idealistic ideas, but that doesn’t necessarily make him a “romantic”.
JOCKSTRAP was my favourite. CORSET was good too.
TWISTER features in “Bill and Ted’s bogus journey”, where, in a parody of “The seventh seal”, the lads play Twister with death.
The inventors of Subbuteo wanted to call the game “hobby”, but weren’t allowed to trademark the name, so they named it after hobby, the species of bird with the scientific name Falco subbuteo.
“Death” (capitalised), rather than “death”, of course.
Thanks, PeterO.
The usual ingenious and witty interweaving of the theme into both clues and answers that we now expect from Tramp. I found it a bit more straightforward than usual – but I’m not complaining! I thoroughly enjoyed it, as ever.
9ac is a great hidden clue – especially in my paper version, where the line break comes after ‘Houdini,’.
I initially had the same thought as muffin re UTOPIAN: it’s not in my dictionaries as ‘romantic’ but I found it in Roget.
[This is the third plug for the Sun in the Guardian crossword within a week!]
Many thanks to Tramp for the fun.
Thanks Tramp and PeterO
17a, liked the coincidence of Uncle Sam backing America
Eileen @5, think I take Roget’s definition of Utopia with a pinch of salt, next to it is Erewhon (I’m a New Zealander). UTOPIAN and ROMANTIC just don’t go together for me, but are probably close enough for crosswordese usage.
Thanks Tramp; a gamey pie.
Thanks to PeterO for a good blog. I don’t really understand the construction of SHOTGUN. There doesn’t seem to be a containment indicator. Should this have been IN page three?
I liked the RUBIK’S CUBE, JOCKSTRAP and SUBBUTEO. Yes, I was a TWISTER once.
P.S. UTOPIAN=romantic is in the Chambers Thesaurus.
I just noticed that UTOPIAN and REALISTS are crossers – clever!
Robi @7
I read it as implied: page 3 is IN the Sun.
muffin @9, yes, so are UTOPIAN and BOXES
Thanks both. Another delight from Tramp.
To add to the game theme, I’m sure I used to have a 4d 14a Scrabble dictionary. I wonder if Tramp considered using Scrabble as an anagrind.
Thanks PeterO for the blog and thanks to all for your kind comments.
I wrote this puzzle way back in July 2012. I’m quite pleased with it. In my last Guardian puzzle I was accused of being vulgar and unfunny; hopefully, I’ve managed to live up to the reputation with this puzzle.
When I think of Subbuteo I think of my twin brother and me pooling our birthday money (about £14 I seem to recall) to buy the 1982 European edition.
http://www.subbuteoworld.co.uk/subbuteo-sets/secondhand-box-sets/s230-1982-subbuteo-european-edition-with-wall-chart-price-list/
It had red and blue netting for the goals. We used to get mum to iron the pitch and then we’d play on our bedroom floor. When I think of Scelextric, I think of my brother and I getting it for Christmas circa 1982. We played it at Easter some months later, had a fight and so dad put it in the attic to teach us a lesson: it never came down again! Twister reminds me of playing it as a postgrad when we should have been doing research: one reason why it took me four years to the day to submit my thesis. Great days, which is why I enjoyed setting this puzzle.
muffin: I agree about Lego. There are a few clues I would have liked to have rewritten but I’m told off for tinkering too much and so I try to let some things stand as originally written. Romantic and Utopian are a bit loose for synonyms, I must admit.
Neil
@Robi – It’s a kind of double-level indicator. If you’re on Page 3 then you are by extension in The Sun. The question mark is what suggests that you have to make this extra mental leap.
I don’t really like the clue for ELECTRONIC MAILBOXES, but I think it does work, if “dispatch to these stores” is an imperative.
My favourite clues ACIDIC and ISOMETRIC. Houdini did in fact have a trick related to muscle contraction (he could tense his abdominal muscles in such a way that he could stand a direct punch to the stomach) which sadly ultimately led to his death; someone took him by surprise and punched him before he was ready.
muffin @9, for that matter, reading down from 3d there is a LETGO JOCKSTRAP and from 4d a FRANKLIN CORSET (OECD from francalis, held without dues).
Tramp @13, sorry, I posted this before seeing your blog, but is your tongue in your cheek?
Thanks again for a super puzzle.
Very enjoyable. The SE corner was the last to fall. Thanks to Tramp for the great entertainment and PeterO for the explanations.
Mac Ruaraidh Ghais –
In case you’re reading, please see my late post on 26414 as to why I support that blogger’s style, in that inverted commas are more helpful, for some, than underlining when highlighting definitions.
Sorry to intrude, folks – I shan’t be collecting my copy of today’s puzzle from library ’til this evening or even tomorrow. Hope it was a good one (though daren’t look at this blog or comments until I’ve solved! Mind you – given it’s a Tramp, I’ll be very surprised if it isn’t terrific fun!)
I found this all a bit ‘chuck the indicators together with some definitions, shake and see what happens’ except for 17D which is very good. All bitty, this feels to me. And the defs too, ‘could it be’, ‘is it’, ‘do they’, or really long, like ‘form of medication’ or ‘relating to muscular contraction’. Pretty tedious!
A fairly accessible and enjoyable puzzle that almost took me back to the days of Spacehoppers and Chopper bikes. Not one of Tramp’s more difficult ones, though there were still a few that were easier to guess than parse. Last in was SHOTGUN after FRANKLIN. Favourite was ACIDIC.
Thanks to Tramp and PeterO
William F P @18
I had noted your objection, and combine underlining with a different colour for the definition (s simple enough procedure using PeeDee’s excellent utility), which I hope will satisfy everyone except perhaps a colourblind person using a smartphone – I do not know if my choice of colours provides sufficient contrast. Eileen used italics, , which is another possibility. Feedback is welcome.
Haha…yes, I was looking around for a slot to put Spacehopper in – but sadly not.
Fun puzzle, and the Hidden Word clue was an absolute belter.
hedgehoggy at 19: are you for real?
“… the defs too, ‘could it be’, ‘is it’, ‘do they’, or really long, like ‘form of medication’ or ‘relating to muscular contraction’. Pretty tedious! ”
I’ve looked at the blog above and I can’t see where I’ve used ‘do they’, ‘is it’ or ‘could it be’. Also, ‘form of medication’ is too long as a definition is it? Where does it say definitions have to be one or two words? The definition for ISOMETRIC was adopted from the Chambers definition and ties in loosely with Houdini’s ability to regurgitate (as Schroduck states above). Feel free to post an alternative clue here: make sure you use a snappy definition, mind.
Neil
Peter O@21. Found your colour scheme and annotation excellent (on iPad), and appreciate your efforts. Usual thoroughly enjoyable tramp with Tramp!
Tramp @23
We’re not sure if hedgehoggy is for real – most of his posts are suggesting that papers other than the Guardian have better crosswords, and he rarely (though not entirely never) has a good word to say for the Guardian ones. His criticism of yours was relatively mild – I think he might actually have liked it!
Thanks for dropping in.
It took me a while to get started on this but after getting 1 and 8 down,the answers came fairly steadily. I Liked SUBBUTEO too,especially as I spent quite a long time trying to fit TA in. My last in was BRIDES I’m ashamed to say. Most enjoyable
Thanks Tramp
As our blogger suggests, this puzzle fits squarely in the goldilocks zone, not too hard and not too soft – or at any rate, just where I like them. A worthy partner to yesterday’s excellent puzzle.
FRANKLIN was last in. I was so fixated on this being a forename that Mrs Trailman had to check the answer for me. Please someone tell me there is a Franklin Somebody well-known as a soul singer, then forgetting about the wonderful Aretha will not have been in vain…
Thanks all
I got corset very early but only parsed it and hence wrote it in very late, clever misdirection.
Tricky one. I’m struggling to get past Roosevelt and the cricketer Franklyn Stephenson (fondly remembered here in Notts), and I don’t think either of them count…
Loved this, slowish start and then steady progress with many delightful penny-drop moments. Only failed on one (CORSET) which puts this in my top decile of solves.
Many thanks to Tramp and PeterO.
Thanks PeterO and Tramp.
I was another one who found the LHS straightforward and quickly filled in, but the right was another matter.
I had ELECTRONIC but couldn’t see what the rest of the fodder was because of miscounting the number of letters in it!
I toyed with KID ON for 10ac and CARVER for 21d, both of which half fit the clues, so these held me back.
Great crossword! Many thanks,Tramp.
I staggered rather uncertainly over the finishing line, unsure about a few of the parsings. I thought the blog was laid out very clearly, so thanks, PeterO, for demonstrating the elegance and economy of the clueing.
William F P @18 if you’re still there
I have been out for a while and have only just seen your comment here and on 26414:
“Underlining doesn’t show up on all devices (such as some Samsung “smart” ‘phones) whereas inverted commas do. This can cause confusion (I recall one example in an Eileen blog where I wrongly thought she’d made a mistake – she ignored my subtle request to take note) but your style avoids any.”
It was precisely because of your comment that I began to use italics as well as underlining [as PeterO notes @21]. As I have only an antique mobile phone, which I struggle to get to grips with, I wasn’t aware of any problem until you mentioned it. I’m sorry if you failed to notice the subtle change. 😉
Don’t think I’ve seen Subbuteo clued before. Reminds me of games like Uruguay vs Bradford City and Celtic vs Brentford.
Interestingly enough Neil, my more recent experiences of Subbuteo have been as a grad. No Twister for me! Thanks both!
As I’d presumed – very pleasant, very nice (but all too swiftly over!). I particularly liked ELEMENTAL.
Huge thanks to Tramp. Please ignore the, literally egregious (and here I’m gratified, by using both words correctly, to be bucking a trend!), comments of our pricklier friends!
PeterO – thanks for a great blog, as ever.
On the subject of blogging styles, my original post was not an “objection”. I was supporting the existing style. And Eileen, if you read this, that is so sweet of you. I hadn’t noticed any change since italics don’t show up either (probably for the same reason underlying doesn’t). You must have thought me quite rude; I hope you realise now that’s not the case. Actually, I’m almost a gentleman – one would hardly notice the difference! As I’m sure I’ve mentioned (or should have) on several occasions, I think your blogs are excellent. (I find your comments, and presence, both edifying and comforting – but that’s another matter and I shouldn’t get carried away…!)
🙂
@ William F P: I don’t know what browser you’re using on your smartphone, but if doesn’t display underlining or italics maybe it’s time you thought about trying a different one. My phone is a vary old Motorola that’s tiny compared to most nowadays, and yet even that doesn’t have any problem displaying simple text formatting. I use the Dolphin browser and it displays this site beautifully.
Angstony@37
Goodness! You clearly didn’t read my original post. Another contributor had suggested manehi “improve” his blog. I felt moved thereby to comment as I think his blogs are superb as they are. My act of decency has embroiled me in a conversation where I now feel a little victimised. So much for chivalry!
😉
In fact I’m more than happy with the magic of my Samsung and have no desire to spend money I don’t have! I never visit fifteensquared until I have fully completed a puzzle in any case. (Some moons ago I wrongly thought Eileen had made a slip because of my ‘phone’s idiosyncratic weakness but that is the only time it’s had any impact. Thank you for your concern).
Over and, very firmly, out!
WFP
…..I know I just wrote “over and out” but feel bound to add (blame ‘les escaliers’!) –
I have never complained about a single aspect of any of our esteemed bloggers. I am only (slightly) hot under the collar when defending our wonderful setters and bloggers….. This is a site of singular warmth and camaraderie, over which I feel most protective….
😉
William F P @38:
I did read your original post and it is you who has clearly misread mine. I am not suggesting you spend money on a new phone, merely that you install a browser that is capable of displaying simple text formatting. You mentioned “Samsung smart phones” in your original post so I assumed that’s what you have, in which case there is nothing stopping you.
The browser I suggested is free on all platforms and – unlike Chrome & Firefox – works on every version of Android. As I said, my phone is very old and comparatively tiny – I’ve never seen one smaller – but it works just fine here on 225. Here is a screenshot from this page with the phone in landscape orientation.
Sorry, I must have mistyped something in that screenshot link so it doesn’t work – here it is again.
Angstony –
You’re very kind and I’m grateful for your advice. I have a Samsung Monte GT-S5620 and it’s a stunning ‘phone that does everything I could ever want – and more. Very compact (why did we spend years making them smaller and now are making them bigger – wasteful overconsumption I guess?!) It was even pronounced world’s most stylish on one comparison site in 2011 (yes, back in the Ice Age!)…..
But it doesn’t use Android. I’m not sure what OS it uses, but I don’t think I can avail myself of your otherwise very helpful advice.
Many thanks anyway.
@ William F P:
Ah, well I wouldn’t really call that a “smart” phone as such, although the touchscreen and built-in apps make it appear like one. My sister actually has a very similar Samsung phone, only it has a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out from behind the screen. She loves it, apart from the message store being minuscule.
I know there used to be a version of a browser called ‘Opera’ that worked on these types of phones, but I don’t know whether it’s still available or whether your particular phone would support it. Might be worth looking into though.
You’re absolutely right, which is why I too always refer to it as “smart” with the inverted commas. It was certainly considered a smart ‘phone when I bought it and described as such both by Samsung and my network provider. Mine holds a few thousand messages (though, like your sis, I have to delete a load from time to time) I still think it’s fantastic and, with a good sized memory card on board, more than sufficient unto my needs. And I find it’s size is a positive virtue. Had my grandmother been presented with such a piece of technology (she ‘moved on’ in the 70s) it might well have threatened her sanity (as would an episode in colour of an Attenborough documentary to her grandmother – just as it might have to Darwin!)
Still, I’m reasonably happy – and very grateful to you for your trouble.
Have a lovely weekend.
W.
Thanks Tramp and PeterO
Another enjoyable puzzle from Tramp again here. It wasn’t so much left or right for me – I just found the bottom more difficult than the top, finishing in the SE with UTOPIAN and SUBBOTEO the last two. I know the game of the latter, just never knew that was its name !
It took a while to understand why CORSET was the right answer to 21d and was a penny-dropper when I eventually saw it.
Many other fine clues and nice to see Acca / Dacca featuring at 5 – their drummer Phil Rudd has recently featured in the news for all the wrong reasons in NZ.
William F P @44:
If you are interested it would appear the “Opera Mini” browser is available for your phone. I can’t tell you exactly what the procedure is, but if my technophobic sister managed it I’m sure it can’t be too difficult. 😉 You just need to go to this site on your phone, select the Opera Mini app and follow the on-screen instructions – which, as far as I can tell, are just a matter of selecting to ‘Quick Download’ the app and then entering the code 3334.
Anyway, if you do decide to try it I think you’ll find it displays text formatted as the bloggers intended. I expect it would also improve the experience of using the internet on your phone generally, but no worries if you don’t feel inclined to do it.
And have a lovely weekend yourself too!
Sheesh… I’m not doing very well with links today. Here it is again.
Angstony – Have just seen your message. Fascinating. I’m terribly grateful. I’ll check it out over the weekend (and no doubt report back here). ‘Citing!
@William: I hope it works out well… I await your verdict with interest!
This is a somewhat delayed comment, as I saved this puzzle for Saturday. I just wanted to say what fun it was to solve, and to thank Tramp for helping to brighten up a grey day in York (the rather impressive pub we found — new one on us — helped too!).
Hi Angstony – very late (long-staying visitors!) so you probably won’t see ’til Monday. I certainly tried….but whether I clicked ‘Quick Download’ or even ‘my phone is not listed’ am returned to that same page (sometimes via a “sorry Get Jar does not support your phone” message). That’s probably it. But it was really nice of you to give it a go. BTW I recall someone attempted to put Android on a Samsung Monte and caused irrevocable damage. That may of course be myth! Either way, many thanks again – have yourself a great week!
@ William: I’m sorry to hear it wouldn’t install for you. I’m a little surprised too, as this review from 2011 clearly states that it should – although I found its download link broken, unfortunately. But that didn’t matter because I remembered ‘getjar’ was the place to go to for Java2 phone apps – at least, that’s where I directed my sister to download it onto her phone a couple of years ago. In fact, if you go to this page on a normal computer and click on the ‘Download’ button it prompts you to enter your phone model, wherein only those that are compatible with the download are displayed. I tried it and as soon as I entered ‘Samsung Monte’ the exact same model you gave above was listed in second place. After clicking on it, then clicking on ‘Set Device’, it displayed the instructions I gave you before.
The only other thing I can suggest is maybe it’s worth trying again, but fully restart your phone by reseating the battery beforehand. It’s surprising how many problems of this nature that simple expedient can fix. Don’t worry though if you don’t feel inclined to try again. I understand that fiddling about with technical things like this isn’t everyone’s idea of ‘fun’. 🙂 Anyway, good look whatever you decide to do!
Thanks Angstony: I’ll probably call that a cul de sac! (Though, in case I change my mind and have cox luck, will report back – so maybe take another look in a few days; PeterO is kindly letting us intrude on his blog….)
Good to know there’s an expert in our midst lest there are future difficulties…!
Take care…
PeterO – I should have mentioned in my email that I’ve never (knowingly) availed myself of a pander’s offices; nor would I imagine you could ever act, or have acted, as one!
😉
@53 – “cox” of course should be “any” ….. bloomin’ predictive vfwu!
@William: No worries. Oh and… um… I’m not really an expert, just someone who likes to tinker a bit. The most I’ll ever admit to being is a semi-expert. 😉