Guardian 26,432 by Picaroon

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26432.

Perhaps there are a few things which may have the purists up in arms, but against that there are many happy inventions and amusing surfaces. As you may gather, I liked this one.

completed grid
Across
1 SEDATE
Leisurely assignation in the Home Counties (6)
A charade of SE (south-east, ‘Home Counties’) plus DATE (‘assignation’).
4 DIPLOMAT
Qualification ending in debt? One mustn’t be tactless (8)
A charade of DIPLOMA (‘qualification’) plus T (‘ending in debT‘).
9 SQUARE
Place in Paris for 4 or 25? (6)
‘Place’ is French for SQUARE, and the numbers 4 and 25 are squares of 2 and 5 respectively.
10 AVE MARIA
Salutation to a virgin maiden enthralled by Cockney’s own song (3,5)
An envelope (‘enthralled by’) of M (‘maiden’) in ‘AVE (‘Cockney’s own’ i.e “have” with the Cockney dropped aspirate) plus ARIA (‘song’).
11 PEASANTS REVOLT
When workers and revolutionary enthusiast get in a strop, this is what you get! (8,6)
An envelope (‘get in’) of AS (‘when’) plus ANTS (‘workers’) plus REVOL a reversal (‘revolutionary’) of LOVER (‘enthusiast’) in PET (‘a strop’).
13 FOREIGN AID
Danger of 11 exchanging money going abroad (7,3)
An anagram (‘exchanging’) of ‘danger of ii’, with 11 becoming II.
14 AHAB
Starbuck’s boss‘s regular withdrawals of cash, maybe (4)
Alternate leters (‘regular withdrawls’) of ‘cAsH mAyBe’. In Moby Dick, Starbuck is the chief mate of the Pequod, under Captain Ahab.
16 ROLL
Accompaniment for rock bun (4)
Double definition. I must admit my first thought was CAKE.
18 GARAGE SALE
Son, into electronic music and alcohol, gets flogging at home (6,4)
An envelope (‘into’) of S (‘son’) in GARAGE (in the UK at least, a form of pop ‘electronic music’) plus ALE (‘alcohol’).
21 BEHIND THE TIMES
9 like 7 (6,3,5)
This time both 9 (SQUARE) and 7 (MURDOCH) refer to the lights. Definition and literal interpretation; Rupert Murdoch is owner of The Times of London.
23 LIVERISH
Teacher with bad back gets hot and irritable (8)
A charade of LIVERIS, a revresal (‘back’) of SIR (‘teacher’ – sorry, Eileen) plus EVIL (‘bad’); plus H (‘hot’).
24 EDWARD
Journo with plug about King Lear, say (6)
A charade of ED (editor, ‘journalist’) plus W (‘with’) plus an envelope (‘about’) of R (‘King’) in AD (‘plug’), for the fellow best remembered for his nonsense verses and Limericks.
25 SWEEPING
Comprehensive school’s head in great distress (8)
A charade of S (‘School’s head’) plus WEEPING (‘in great distress’).
26 TRADER
Perhaps socialist realism repelled Wall Street worker (6)
A reversal (‘repelled’) of RED (‘socialist’) plus ART (‘perhaps … realism’).
Down
1 SASH
Regiment on horse’s symbol of rank (4)
A charade of SAS (Special Air Services, no longer a single ‘regiment’ in the British Army, but it is in Australia) plus H (‘horse’, both being heroin).
2 DOUCEUR
Nothing stops Mussolini turning up game for a bribe (7)
An envelope (‘stopr’) of O (‘nothing’) in DUCE (‘Mussolini’) plua UR, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of RU (Rugby Union, compilers’ favourite ‘game’).
3 TURNSPIT
How to get tips for rotisserie (8)
A wordplay-in-the-answer: TURN SPIT to get ‘tips’.
5 INVESTIGATE
Consider wearing under­wear? One reaches a scandalous conclusion (11)
A charade of IN VEST (‘wearing underwear’) plus I (‘one’) plus GATE (‘a scandalous conclusion’; the all-purpose suffix named after Watergate).
6 LUMBER
Learner mounting dark brown saddle (6)
A charade of L (‘learner’) plus UMBER (‘dark brown’ at least if burnt). ‘Saddle’ as a verb.
7 MURDOCH
Protecting Republican Party is a great deal for media mogul (7)
An envelope (‘protecting’) of R (‘Republican’) plus DO (‘party’) in MUCH (‘a great deal’), with an extended definition.
8 TRACTABLE
Willing to lug around furniture (9)
A charade of TRAC, a reversal (‘around’) of CART (‘lug’) plus TABLE (‘furniturer’).
12 NON-PARTISAN
The part of Agamemnon — part is angelic and disinterested (3-8)
A hidden answer (‘the part of’) in ‘AgamemNON PART IS ANgelic’).
13 FIREBALLS
Energetic characters calling for a sacking from the shadow cabinet (9)
Ed Balls is the UK Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
15 BEWILDER
Grow increasingly furious with puzzle (8)
BE WILDER (‘grow increasingly furious’).
17 LE HAVRE
Where to find Norman Lamont, at first? He turns up at rave, smashed (2,5)
A charade of L (‘Lamont at first’) plus EH, a reversal (‘turns up’) of ‘he’ plus AVRE, an anagram (‘smashed’) of ‘rave’. Le Havre is in Normandy.
19 ABELARD
President with fat French lover (7)
A charade of ABE (Lincoln, ‘President) plus LARD (‘fat’). Pierre Abélard, the 12th century philosopher, is best remembered for his love for Héloïse d’Argenteuil.
20 ENTRAP
Catch spouse? Not quite, getting knocked back (6)
A reversal (‘getting knocked back’) of PARTNE[r] (‘spouse’) cur short (‘not quite’).
22 ODER
Verse on river — one in central Europe (4)
A charade of ODE (‘verse’) plus R (‘river’). The Oder River rises in the Czech Republic and flows northward to the Baltic; part of it contributes to the Oder-Neisse Line, the border between Germany and Poland.
*anagram

61 comments on “Guardian 26,432 by Picaroon”

  1. Thanks Peter, I’m with you on this. Here were misdirections,, fun with numbers and a lot of French. I got stuck at the very end on 13A: foreign what? Aid? Why? Then the sou dropped, 11 had nothing to with revolting peasants. Loved 9 and 7 for the media mogul, and the scandalous conclusion. Thanks Picaroon.

  2. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO
    Most entertaining puzzle for ages. First pass only yielded 4, but steady, enjoyable progress thereafter. Picaroon took me down so many blind alleys. 1a the SE wasn’t around the “assignation”, 9a didn’t refer to 4 and 25 lights, 19d didn’t involve French for “fat” etc. etc..
    The hidden in 12d was brilliant.
    I couldn’t parse 11a, though the answer was obvious, or 13a – thanks PeterO. (I was intending to mention “raw umber”, but you got there first.)

  3. Thanks for a great blog, PeterO. [After all this time, I’m quite resigned to ‘teacher = SIR’ in crosswords – I’d be surprised to see it in an Arachne, though. 😉 ]

    The Editor is being rather lavish with his Picaroon puzzles just now – I hope he has plenty left! – but I’d be one of the very last to complain: he’s one of my top favourites and today’s certainly lived up to expectations.

    molonglo has summarised the puzzle very nicely – lots of smiles and ‘ahas’ as I found myself nearly at the top of the garden path again and some lovely links between the clues – a delightful start to another gloomy morning.

    [Another little detour I made was in 24ac: I had ED + WAD [‘a plug of paper’ – Collins and Chambers] round R. I thought I’d stopped being fooled by ‘w = with’ and I should know ‘ad = plug’ after all these years!]

    Many thanks, as ever, to Picaroon for all the fun.

  6. Thank you Picaroon and PeterO

    I needed quite a lot of help with the parsing here, like muffin I failed on 11a and 13a, extra thanks PeterO.
    The Starbuck’s boss floored me, only coffee came to mind.
    NON PARTISAN was fantastic.

    26a should ‘Wall Street worker’ be underlined?

  7. Thank you, PeterO, excellent blog. I wonder if you meant to underline Wall Street trader in 26a.

    I thought this was a fine puzzle.

    Failed on AHAB through failing to spot the ‘maybe’ on the second line – twerp.

    EDWARD was brilliant – beautifully constructed clue with a clever misdirect with the King. Getting a bit desperate, I looked up ‘Lear’ and was interested to find it an archaic word for ‘teach’ which presumably is the same root as ‘learn’ and ‘learnéd’.

    Loved GARAGE SALE for ‘flogging at home’ ha-ha.

    Walked into the same traps as Muffin I’m ashamed to say.

    Best puzzle for some time IMHO.

    Nice week all.

  8. Thanks Picaroon & PeterO.

    Small point, but surely the ‘in’ in 1a is just wrong, unless ‘leisurely’ is doing double-duty as an anagrind. Otherwise, it’s not a container and maybe ‘by’ or some such would have been better. I had to look up the literary references, as is normal for me. DOUCEUR was new to me – is this well-known to the cognoscenti out there?

    I particularly liked AVE MARIA, FOREIGN AID and GARAGE SALE.

  9. A lot to like about this but 11 meaning 2 is dodgy. Unless it’s a crossword convention I’m unaware of. I think 26a is better parsed as RED ART (socialist realism) reversed.

  10. Re. 26a – Socialist Realism was the permitted, official style of art in the Soviet Union, hence red art…

  11. Thanks, PeterO

    Very enjoyable puzzle from the Pirate.

    I agree with Eileen et al on the parsing of 24a (nice misdirection here) and with Poc @9 that RED ART is ‘Socialist Realism’. However I disagree with Robi @8: ‘assignation in the Home Counties’ seems a perfectly good representation for a ‘SE DATE’ – the ‘in’ decoys us into looking for a container construction but it indicates location rather than concealment. Think of all those clues where ‘in [place]’ is used to define the name of a town, to much grumbling from the chorus.

    Good variety of clue types here, with plenty of misdirection in the definitions and cryptic indications, and smooth surface readings. The three different uses of numbers in 9a, 13a and 21a was a nice touch (FOREIGN AID was my LOI). My favourite clue, for its construction and the picture conjured by its surface, was 17d.

  12. Robi @8 Yes, DOUCEUR is quite literally a ‘sweetener’. Don’t know for sure but I imagine it’s the same route as ‘dolce’ in Italian.

    Also, I read 1a in a different way…assignation in the Home Counties simply becomes a ”SE date’. I don’t think the ‘in’ is a container in any sense.

  14. Thanks PeterO and Picaroon
    A very clever and highly amusing puzzle. I missed Eileen’s and Gervase’s (et Al) nice take on Edward – less humdrum than my own with w for with.
    Plc @9 The II stands for double i.

  15. What a godsend Ed Balls is to the Guardian setter! This was a very enjoyable and inventive puzzle. For me it would have been even better without the Arnhem moment at 13a; 9a is so good that the second attempt at numerical sleight of hand weakens rather than strengthens the overall effect.

  16. What a great puzzle! I started off in the wrong direction on practically every clue but even the unknown words came together nicely as the grid filled in. Many thanks to Picaroon for a beautifully calibrated dose of bewilderment.

  18. I liked this one a lot. I suppose there might be some objectors but I think any miscreants are more than compensated for by the wit and cleverness on show here. I particularly liked INVESTIGATE,BEWILDER and LE HAVRE. I was another whose first thought was CAKE for 16 across. But a lovely puzzle.
    More like this.
    Thanks Picaroon

  19. I think we have two equally good parsings for 24A EDWARD. I wonder which one Picaroon had in mind?
    I agree that in 1A SEDATE the wordplay is better read as the whole phrase SE DATE – my attempt to split it into its components, far from explaining it, just muddied the waters. Likewise 26A TRADER.

    Poc @9

    I see your point about 13A FOREIGN AID, but most of us are used to “lifting and separating” words, so why not numbers?

    I have corrected the underlining in 26A – thanks to Cookie and William for pointing out the lapsus muris.

  20. I would say that the plud is AD for 24 across. WAD isn’t really accurate enough, while AD has been in Crosswordese for a while.

    Here is a setter who is good enough technically, and funny enough to make for a really good Guardian puzzle. More of them should be like this i.e. not boring and not rubbish for technique.

  22. I found this very enjoyable – difficult in places but rewarding and inventive, as we have come to expect from Picaroon, who is now firmly established as one of my favourite setters. Last in and biggest groan/aha moment was BEWILDER, also liked SQUARE, AHAB, GARAGE SALE and FIREBALLS. DOUCEUR, ABELARD and TURNSPIT were a little obscure but fairly clued. Failed to parse FOREIGN AID but that was clever too.

    Thanks to Picaroon and PeterO

  23. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

    I loved this, as ever with Picaroon, who has such an enjoyable range of clueign styles, it becomes very hard to see in which particular direction he’s trying to mislead us.

    hedgehoggy @ 20/21, I think wad is accurate enough: there used to be the habit of chewing on a wad or plug of tobacco, so it makes sense.

  24. The word WAD can be used in the sense of plug, OCED – to stop up (an aperture or a gun barrel) with a ‘wad’, and Eileen @3 cites Collins and Chambers – ‘wad’ a plug of paper. Agreed W from with and AD from plug probably fit the clue better but, as Tupu @14 says, WAD is less humdrum. Crosswordese can make crossword solving like learning a foreign language. Much more fun to be able to keep an open mind and attack a clue with a fresh outlook each time. So I plug for WAD.

  25. This taxed my little brain well beyond its limit, exemplified by the parsing of PEASANTS REVOLT, which I very much took on trust. No objections though to the obscure words DOUCEUR and TURNSPIT, which were clear from the wording. (The latter apparently is more often applied to the, no doubt hot, dog that had the pleasure of the treadmill in times past.)

    And I would much rather have this complex puzzle than the one we had yesterday.

  26. Would never have solved this “on the train”, had to look things up on the dear old web.

    Message to all bloggers (again!):- are you trying to establish street cred by continually giving H=HORSE=HEROIN? Because it is totally pointless and spurious to mention HEROIN. Look in any publication from the equine world and you will find H=HORSE (stud books, race cards, form guides etc.). End of story. Simples. So can we drop the totally unnecessary =HEROIN in future please?

  28. Now I understand why heroin was mentioned in the 1d parsing. Agree with Derek Lazenby @26, and the OCED gives h abbr (also h.) 1 height. 2 hour(s). 3 hot. 4 horse. 5 husband.

  29. Yes but AD=plug is far more obvious, and so the preferred choice surely. I am completely convinced this was the intention.

  31. w=with wasn’t obvious to me, hedgehoggy. I have seen it, but never understood the justification. W by itself usually stands for “win” in “win, draw or lose”.

  32. Hedgehoggy @ 29, 30, not sure what the other contributors final decision is, but I agree with you as I implied @2. However it is fun to point out alternatives. I suppose bloggers have to stick with the more humdrum solution.

  33. Hi Cookie @24 – thanks for the ‘plug’ [it’s interesting that it can also mean ‘ad’]. 😉

    From various examples above, it seems there are several instances of plug=wad. I was actually thinking of the medical use of wadding to act as a plug before I looked it up and found the plug of paper. [I really didn’t mean to start an argument: I thought I was wrong – and this has been most interesting!]

  35. Thanks PeterO and Picaroon.

    I found this quite hard today, with lots of help confirming suspicions with the on-line puzzle.

    I am also with Eileen on the WAD version, and, at first, thought the same as Robi @8 on the “in”. After further thought I was happy with “a SE date”.

    rcwhiting @ 27 – was that your letter in the Guardian yesterday?

  36. muffin @31; extract from Collins for w. –

    Definitions

    abbreviation for
    1.week
    2.weight
    3.width
    4.wife
    5.with
    6.(cricket) a.wide
    b.wicket

    w. is also in Chambers as an abbreviation for ‘with.’

  37. So w. as in w.r.t. I don’t know why we need to choose between these two parsings both of which work. I read it as wad but would accept either…

  39. Brilliant crossword.

    Kept me entertained and misled throughout 😉

    Thanks to PeterO and Picaroon

    P.S. I’m in the “WAD camp” as “wad” is definitely a plug and it parses perfectly and simply!

  44. Having briefly studied the Chambers 21st entries for WAD and for PLUG, I am joining the W plus AD club.

    Nice clue, and part of another really splendid piece of work from Picaroon.

  45. muffin @40

    I suggest you might look at your local Chinese takeout menu – ok., the first menu that I dug out was Asian fusion, but it offered many delights s such as “Shrimp w. Asparagus”.

  47. Hi PeterO
    Our local Chinese isn’t that sophisticated! Shrimp? Asparagus????

    Seriously, no “w”s on our takewaway menu.

  49. muffin @ 43 It is an abbreviation used in maths frequently. For example,

    “differentiate y with respect to x” would often be written “differentiate y wrt x” (find the slope of a curve)

  50. Thanks PeterO and Picaroon

    I had SEASONAL RECORD for 11ac thinking it might relate to FOREIGN AID. So 5 & 8 were impossible

  51. Lovely as ever from Picaroon. I found this all went in quite easily, I must have just been on the wavelength today.

    Haha – for BEHIND THE TIMES I thought “9” was the definition, as in… TIMES = X = TEN, and “9” is just “behind” TEN…so, BEHIND THE TIMES. I need to get out more.

  52. Once more a beautiful crossword by Picaroon, perhaps (as style is concerned) my favourite setter.
    Relatively, um, Ximenean but only relatively.
    Generally good surfaces with regularly names of people thrown in as part of the construction.
    All elements that made his previous (prize) puzzle even more wonderful.
    I would like to echo his fellow setter Rorschach @34 – I actually know that he meant this from the bottom of his heart.

    At this point I would also like the take the opportunity to say something about a type of clue that many call “lift & separate”.

    The first time I encountered this term (for a clue, that is) was in early 2010. One of the nation’s top setters (Alberich (FT) aka Klingsor (Independent)) was the one often associated with this expression.
    On 15 April 2010 he had a clue, which unfortunately got lost in my archive as I cannot open these old pdfs in Adobe anymore, ending in “… Peter Gabriel”. The solution was ARCHANGEL, Peter was used for the construction, Gabriel was the definition.
    Now that was what we called “lift & separate” in those days [see smiffy’s blog: http://www.fifteensquared.net/2010/04/15/financial-times-13360-alberich/ , 14 down].

    For many solvers, the meaning of L & S has changed through the years. Nowadays it seems to be a thing like the “s/teamed” (see the recent Araucaria puzzle/tribute).
    Today, the term was even used for “11” becoming I I.

    However, for me L & S is still that what Alberich was (and is) ‘famous’ for. Last October, in York, I had a brief chat with Monk (and PeeDee) about this and I think he agreed.
    And, btw, Alberich would never do a thing like “s/teamed” which doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t do it either.

    What has all this to do with Picaroon?
    Well, his puzzles also feature clues in which the mind connects names/expressions which should be cryptically disconnected.
    Today we had, “Norman Lamont” : Norman as part of the definition, Lamont part of the construction.
    King Lear in 24ac was another example.
    Picaroon did similar things in his previous puzzle.
    “Maybe Thai / food”, “Sharon / Stone”, “Cheryl / Cole”.
    Just brilliant.
    L & S in the Alberich sense of the word.

    I am happy that others use the term for the more recent Guardianesque split-ups (which every now and then creep up in the FT and the Guardian too) but for me it’s like what happens in today’s 17d.
    Which for that reason must be one of my favourites today.

    ps, I was sure I saw SEDATE just recently.
    I looked it up and saw that it was, on Nov 1, (to the same effect) in a puzzle by the FT’s own Philistine (Goliath): “Sober night in Kent?”.

    Many thanks, PeterO.

  53. Apologies for any confusion I may have created with my comment @37 and thanks to PeterO and Dave Ellison for explaining it – it was familiar to me from school calculus as per Dave @49.

  54. PaulB @ 44

    Chambers pah!!!!

    SOED has

    wad
    …..
    3 A small lump or compact bundle of soft, loose, or pliable material used esp. as a plug, as a pad, or to keep things apart. l16.
    b A disc or plug of paper, cloth, etc., retaining the powder and shot in position in a gun or cartridge. m17.
    c A thing rolled up tightly, as a roll of banknotes. l18.

    I’m still in the WAD club 🙂

  55. Small plea for non linguists; just how legimate is the use of ‘place’ in France as the definition ‘square’. Where should the line be drawn on foreign words.
    Having made this grouse I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the puzzle.

  56. I think all towns in France have at least one ‘place’, and most villages too. It is usually a square surrounded by buildings, often with trees, nowadays unfortunately sometimes used as a car park.

  57. MANG @55

    Welcome to you. If the clue just gave ‘place’ I agree it would be unfair; but Picaroon says ‘Place in Paris’. Once you are past the obvious misdirection of ‘place’ in the English sense, I think that there are several well-known squares in Paris, particularly those at either end of the Champs-Élysées, the Place Charles de Gaulle, with the Arc de Triomphe, and the Place de la Concorde. It is a matter of opinion, of course, but I would have thought that these at least were sufficient general general knowledge (even to people who do not speak French) to justify the clue.

  58. Thanks Picaroon and PeterO

    An excellent puzzle … and so early in the week as well. Enjoyed, as per usual with this setter, the wide variety and innovativeness of the clues. I don’t think that there was one dud one.

    Started off easily enough in SW with ROLL first in, but it was a track full of twisty turns before the (new to me) DOUCEUR and cunning SQUARE finished it off. The fact that there was discussion of dodgy clue construction (as in SEDATE) that was disproved in the thread to show that it is indeed another example of the subtle misdirection used throughout the puzzle.

    Well done Pirate !

  59. Brendan @ 54, well, pay for cheap dictionary and that’s what you get. Or free dictionary. It is awful. But I’m sticking to my guns, as the treacle-addicted Billy the Kid once said.

    Hmm, being channelled a gag about ‘the right to bear arms’ now. Hmm.

  60. I didn’t want to get involved in the War on Edward.
    But, let’s face it, whether you think A or B, both parsings are valid and both lead to the same solution.
    Looks like War, in general.
    🙂 [or, as I see it, 🙁 ]

Comments are closed.