Guardian 26,419 / Rufus

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I originally thought this was going to be plain sailing (to use a nautical term so beloved by Rufus) because all but a handful of entries went in rapidly during my first pass through the clues. Of the remaining five, four were entered quickly now that I had the checked letters but one remained stubbornly unsolved – 26ac.

So I had ?O?T? and what was obviously a cryptic definition, not a lot to go on. Nothing came to mind and a wildcard search of Chambers brought up 149 matches, too many to trawl through so I gave up and resorted to the reveal option on the Guardian website. Even with the solution the clue did not make much sense to me.

As we should expect from Rufus, there was the customary plethora, some might say surfeit, of double/cryptic definitions, some of which bordered on being simply a straight definition. In fact I got the impression that there were even more than usual but I didn’t bother to count them to find out.

Across
7 Floating at sea, / for the most part? (2,3,4)
IN THE MAIN – double def.

8 Make a correction to / starboard (5)
RIGHT – double def.

9 Dieting so mistakenly could adversely affect this (9)
DIGESTION – an anagram (mistakenly) of DIETING SO

10 Strictly speaking, / the tail of a dog (5)
STERN – double def. – Chambers gives “the rump or tail” under ‘stern’

12 Almost ready to include me in the cure (6)
REMEDY – RE[a]DY (almost ready) around (to include) ME – I don’t think I have previously seen ‘almost’ to indicate the removal of an inner letter rather than the end one

13 Secret American organisation (2,6)
IN CAMERA – an anagram (organisation) of AMERICAN

14 Tabby is prepared to look after another’s young (7)
BABYSIT – an anagram (prepared) of TABBY IS

17 An abstract point, to be exact (7)
PRECISE – PRECIS (an abstract) E (point)

20 Uncommitted affection? (4,4)
FREE LOVE – [not so] cryptic def. – or FREE (uncommitted) LOVE (affection)

22 It is said to aid meditation (6)
MANTRA – [another not so] cryptic def.

24 Enter the office uninvited? (5)
USURP – cryptic [?] def.

25 Destroy bacteria, that is with Lister’s treatment (9)
STERILISE – an anagram (treatment) of IE (that is) LISTERS – this just happens to be an anagram of ‘listerise’ which has a similar meaning

26 One hears word of it (5)
MOUTH – I can only assume that this is referring to the phrase ‘by word of mouth’

27 Lincoln is such a city -/- see around it (9)
CATHEDRAL – double def.

Down
1 Small number elevated to job connected with computers (6)
ONLINE – NO (small number) reversed (elevated) LINE (job {occupation})

2 One caught in the very act of stealing (8)
THIEVERY – I (one) in (caught in) THE VERY

3 Workshop occupied by strikers (6)
SMITHY – cryptic def.

4 Delay decision on / what to do with a chair (3,2,2)
SIT ON IT – double def.

5 Some contradict umpire’s ruling (6)
DICTUM – hidden in (some) ‘contraDICT UMpire’s’

6 Cathedral plans to include religious education (8)
CHARTRES – CHARTS (plans) around (to include) RE (religious education)

11 A better mark (4)
SCAR – cryptic def. referring to a wound that’s healed

15 An undergarment one’s upset about, showing wear (8)
ABRASION – A BRA (an undergarment) I’S (one’s) reversed (upset) ON (about)

16 Press for an element essential to life (4)
IRON – double def.

18 Decide / to terminate (8)
CONCLUDE – double def.

19 The perfect chap to be a match official (4,3)
BEST MAN – cryptic def. referring to someone present at a marriage

21 Such mistakes are holding a sailing man up (6)
ERRATA – ARE around (holding) TAR (a sailing man) reversed (up)

22 She shows skill in carving ham (6)
MARTHA – ART (skill) in an anagram (carving) of HAM

23 Car’s crashed with a learner — a culpable character (6)
RASCAL – an anagram (crashed) of CAR’S plus A L (a learner)

37 comments on “Guardian 26,419 / Rufus”

  1. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid

    26ac I trhink is a double definition: yes, one hears word of mouth, and also the mouth speaks words, so taking OF to be synonymous in this case with FROM gives the second.

  2. Thanks Gaufrid. MOUTH was my last one in: I’m sure you’re right that it refers to “word of mouth”. Not a very satisfactory clue,especially with the unhelpful crossing letters.

    I wasn’t keen on 27a, as it’s not really a double definition, and it’s a bit of a flaw that “cathedral” also appears in the clue for 6d.

    And REDY for “almost ready” is a step too far for me.

  4. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid
    A frustrating puzzle. Several clues I really liked (13a – I’m surprised that I haven’t seen this anagram before – 17a, 25a, 2d and 19d), but there were also several clues that were poor or worse. I thought 27a was feeble, even more so as “cathedral” appears in 6d – and this one is wrong too, as “Chartres” is a place, not a cathedral (the cathedral at Chartres being called, unsurprisingly, “Chartres Cathedral”, or the equivalent in French). 3d and 16d were a bit weak too.

  5. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid. All pretty straightforward except for USURP, which I wasn’t entirely happy with but suppose it must be right; and CATHEDRAL – I don’t understand why it’s a DD!

  6. Hi drofle
    “CATHEDRAL – I don’t understand why it’s a DD!”

    Because Lincoln has a cathedral and the area around a cathedral is called a ‘see’.

  8. I usually think of DICTUM as not exactly the opposite of “ruling,” but something quite distinct from it. (In legal usage, it is a non-essential and therefore non-authoritative statement in a ruling.) Perhaps there is a looser non-techincal usage that works. Still, I suppose I shouldn’t complain about the only clue to require even a moment of head scratching.

  9. Thanks Gaufrid and Rufus

    A mixed bag as said – many write-ins and some teasers.

    I was a bit puzzled by 10a for which I entered ‘story’. I assumed ‘strictly speaking’ referred to a homophone and that the reference was to a (shaggy)dog story. But I can see that ‘stern’ works if one treats ‘dog’ simply as an elaboration of the surface (?), and ‘story’ alone without the ‘shaggy’ is probably too much of a stretch.

  11. Hi Ian SW3 @8
    Under DICTUM Collins has “a formal or authoritative statement or assertion; pronouncement” and for ‘ruling’ it includes “a decision of someone in authority, such as a judge” so I think the two are reasonably analogous.

  12. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid

    I got tied up trying to parse ONLINE, could see NIL going up and ONE.
    The BEST MAN in the role of a match official made me smile.

  13. Thanks Rufus & Gaufrid.

    My experience very similar to Gaufrid’s with the SW corner yielding last, and MOUTH being the LOI after I had tried ‘motto.’ The ?O?T? option on OneLook common words only gave 74 options, which allowed me to find it. I tried self LOVE [not literally 😉 ] for 20, so it was slightly cryptic.

    Andrew @3’s clue is much better than that of Rufus. The clue for BEST MAN was identical to that of Dante in FT 14,057. Arachne’s clue (Quiptic 628) for IN CAMERA – ‘American is treated privately’ (thanks to the site search here.) Oh dear, but perhaps the best ideas have always been done before.

  14. After a few weeks when I’ve found Rufus not too frustrating, a return to type. Hate the grid, complete with four five-letter words with only two checked letters, all of which are filled by cd/dd that you either know or don’t. STERN having anything to do with dog? Oh well. A day when I’ve scurried to the laptop so as to benefit from the check key.

  15. I agree with everything Gaufrid says. My last in was MOUTH too, which,as I’ve just returned from the dentists, is rather ironic. Probably not one of the best from Rufus but about right for me as I wait for the anaesthetic to wear off!

  17. Fairly quick solve, this one. I’m also not happy with REMEDY for reasons others have mentioned. Not a great grid and having two cathedrals is a little unimaginative. Decent way to start the lunch hour but not the best crossword.

  18. That’s the first (and probably last) time that I’ve finished a crossword in 6 minutes. I can’t even get through a tabloid one that fast, so it must have been a lot less cryptic than usual.

    I’m with Cookie in liking “match official”.

  19. This was straightforward even by Rufus standards – I agree with the quibbles about MOUTH though I thought of it straight away and didn’t question it at the time. Last in was BETTER.

    Thanks to Gaufrid and Rufus

  20. Well, not very good for me either. In addition to the above I don’t much care for ‘a better mark’ for SCAR. A scar is by definition a healed wound: so a cut and not a mark is what gets ‘better’.

    Usual fare of familiar and plonky clues.

  21. I lost my original comment by submitting it without a captcha value, and introduced a mistake in the rewrite – my last in was SCAR, and I agree with hedgehoggy that that was weak too, but had to be right from the crossers.

  22. As ever, there are some nice things in there – and the whole is another successful example of Rufus fulfilling his brief of composing straightforward Monday crosswords. Personally I think, if you have to write a simple puzzle while retaining some grace and subtlety, then clues like “Enter the office uninvited? (5)” are perfect. There is just enough cryptic thought required to stop thinking of an office with desks, and a decent little “Oh, I see” moment when it falls into place.

    Some nice definitions as usual – ‘look after another’s young’…’connected with computers’…’occupied by strikers’…’match official’ etc. .

    Presumably the FREE of FREE LOVE is meant to be synonymous with ‘not in prison’ (un-committed), rather than just ‘not tied down’ ?

    And the ‘better’ mark is of course a mark that shows you have got better, rather than a mark which itself has got better.

    I think people are a bit too sniffy about these things – they do what they have been asked to do for a Monday, but with enough charm to make them worth filling in for more experienced solvers.

  23. Thanks, Gaufrid.

    Fairly straightforward solve, with a few hiccups, as listed above.

    The only real quibble I would have is the same as muffin’s @4: ‘Chartres’ is not a cathedral. (Pasquale used ‘cathedral’ = ELY a while ago, to which I also objected). Railway stations are sometimes abbreviated to their location (Euston, Kings Cross etc). However, churches or cathedrals, though sometimes known just by their patron saint (e.g. St Paul’s), are never referred to by their location alone. We could say that Wren designed St Paul’s, but we would NOT say that Giles Gilbert Scott designed Liverpool.

  24. Gervase @23, yes I agree on the whole with what you say about cathedrals, but if you mention CHARTRES (cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres) to a non-French person, the cathedral immediately comes to mind, perhaps also with Reims (unless Joan of Arc comes first). Notre-Dame, of course, is like St.Pauls.

  26. Hi Cookie
    I suppose that if were asked “Have you been to Chartres?” I would assume that the questioner was wondering if I had visited the cathedral (I have, in fact).

  27. The usual Rufus mixed bag.

    Surely this was too easy even for “Manageable Monday”. The only clues that weren’t a write in were USURP and SCAR!

    Thanks to Rufus and Gaufrid

  30. Re: the moans about 27a – why Lincoln rather than a couple of dozen other places in England? Lincoln Cathedral (or Minster) is built on top of what is effectively the only hill for as far as the eye can see. I wonder if some such thought was in Rufus’ mind when setting.

    And a slight moan. The indefinite article is surplus in 21, but required in 15. I don’t mind which way a setter goes, but please may we have consistency?

  31. Think of a crossword as brain teaser rather than something to be set following a load of ‘rules’ that in fact have evolved rather than having been codified and it’s less of a problem. I remind everyone on this site that the crosswords are compiled for the general population, which we don’t really represent.

    Having said that, aren’t ‘errata’ corrections rather than mistakes?!

  34. And re Mike @ 30, I’m really concerned that I was being misled by that apostrophe. I mean! Of all the cheek. And at 21 ‘such’? ‘SUCH’! It is a travesty, and I am beside myself with a smacked gob.

    So Tim I don’t think you’ll find Guardian crosswords following any rules, well not in the main anyway. Some compilers (e.g. Imogen) are fastidious, but surely you’re in the right place. Nathelees, people will come to this area of the site and pick things about come what may.

    And that’s why I like it here. 😀

  36. Well said limeni – im with u all the way. The usual nit picking from the usual suspects. An easy fix for them would be Don’t Bother! I get huge satisfaction from this setters puzzles. RUFUS u RULE!

  37. Thanks Rufus and Gaufrid

    Did this late Monday night … and had no issues at the time – was surprised to see the ‘list of sins’ when coming here!

    MOUTH came straight to mind when I had the O and T in place – wonder how many other common phrases that there are that are ‘word of xxxxx’ ?

    I like the SCAR type clues … where the twist in the use of ‘better’ is quite deceiving. My first thought of a scar is negative – as in “What happened to get that?” rather than the thought of it as the result of the negative thing (the wound) getting better. It provided the aha moment for me.

    Took a bit over half an hour, which is longer than normal, so there was a bit more to think about than usual. I look forward to the quicker solves when they come.

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