Guardian 26,490 / Rufus

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Don’t worry – this is not a complete take-over of the Guardian blogging slot: because of the way the rota works, my monthly Prize blog coincided with the overlap of the weekly ones, which is why you’ve had me three times running.

Back to normal today, with the accustomed Monday Rufus and the familiar medley of anagrams and double and cryptic definitions. I can’t think of a new way to describe Rufus’s ‘silky-smooth’ surfaces, but I thought there were some particularly neat ones today, raising several smiles along the way. Thanks to Rufus – and welcome back!

Across

1 His work is often framed (7)
GLAZIER
Cryptic definition

5 Its mother’s first to lactate (6)
MAMMAL
MAMMA [mother] + L[actate] – a clever & littish surface and one of my favourite clues

9 Tall thin person training runners (8)
BEANPOLE
[Not quite] double / cryptic definition, referring to runner beans

10 Astronaut found in the local, drinking (6)
ALDRIN
Hidden in locAL DRINking – another nice surface

12 Fail to understand decimals correctly? (4,3,5)
MISS THE POINT
Double / cryptic definition

15 Cancellation of the count leads to rebuke (7,3)
TELLING OFF
Double definition

17 Subdued sound of cattle (3)
LOW
Double definition

19 Dismissed when on strike (3)
OUT
Double definition – dismissed as in cricket

20 Contributory funds one put on daily account (10)
SUBSIDIARY
SUBS [funds – as either verb or noun] + I [one] + DIARY [daily account] – and another neat surface

22 Take a tough line to deal with a motoring case (3,2,3,4)
PUT IN THE BOOT
Double definition, which made me smile

26 Listener following close win (6)
ENDEAR
EAR [listener] after END [close]

27 Furtive sort of hat style (8)
STEALTHY
Anagram [sort of] of HAT STYLE

28 Bearing a flower in March or April? (6)
EASTER
E [bearing] + ASTER [flower]

29 Girl with two articles to stow away safely (7)
SHEATHE
SHE [girl] + A THE [two articles]

Down

1 Jeer? I beg to differ! (4)
GIBE
Anagram [to differ] of I BEG

2 Open with a shock (4)
AJAR
A JAR [a shock]

3 Understood devil comes to a lawful end (8)
IMPLICIT
IMP [devil] + LICIT [lawful]

4 Australian football is supreme, OK? (5)
RULES
Double definition – and another witty surface, alluding to graffiti

6 Poles strangely under a certain inclination (6)
ASLOPE
A + an anagram [strangely] of POLES
This really needs ‘under’ to do double duty, as it’s an adjective or adverb – it’s archaic, anyway, so not one of the better clues

7 A rule uniformly applied? (7,3)
MARTIAL LAW
Cryptic definition

8 Gently wash out all the way along (10)
LENGTHWAYS
Anagram [out] of GENTLY WASH

11 Changes times of work (6)
SHIFTS
Double definition

13 We are always enveloped in this mood (10)
ATMOSPHERE
Double / cryptic [?] definition

14 Given freedom in postscript for banalities (10)
PLATITUDES
LATITUDE [freedom] in PS [postscript]
[I think the ‘given’ is a little awkward]

16 Cowboy developing a cough (6)
GAUCHO
Anagram [developing] of A COUGH

18 Recommend someone to take legal action (8)
ADVOCATE
Double definition
[It struck me that ‘counsel’ would do the same job – if it had the right number of letters 😉 ]

21 It’s natural for hotel to have a tea break (6)
INNATE
INN [hotel] + an anagram [break] of TEA

23 More than one barrel used in shooting (5)
BUTTS
Double definition – could refer to a rifle butt or [Chambers]: a mark or mound for archery or shooting practice; a mound behind targets; a hiding place for grouse-shooters

24 Revision of test indic­ates second thoughts are not always best (4)
STET
Anagram [revision] of TEST – my other favourite clue

25 In a city, near a river (4)
TYNE
Hidden in ciTY NEar

44 comments on “Guardian 26,490 / Rufus”

  1. Hi Eileen
    Misprint in you answer to 16d

    Quite a few amusing clues – good way back in to crosswords after holiday!

  3. Thank you, Eileen.

    Couldn’t quite pause MAMMAL – as you say, rather clever.

    Held up in the SW corner but firing in TICKING off instead of TELLING OFF. Serves me right.

    LOI was BUTTS as it took me ages to spot PUT IN THE BOOT. It doesn’t quite work for me as I’ve only ever heard PUT THE BOOT IN, but it’s perfectly valid and very smooth misdirection.

    Nice job, Rufus.

    Nice week, all.

  5. Hi Billyk

    Hmm, I know we’re allowed [or often required] to ignore punctuation but the apostrophe does come before the ‘s’, so I’ll stick by my parsing.

  6. Thanks Rufus and Eileen,

    This was fun and the clues read so naturally, not as though contrived.

    I also put TICKING OFF to start with. I loved MISS THE POINT, MARTIAL LAW, AJAR and STET.

    Muffin @1, was going to ask where you were if you had not posted today. Hope you enjoyed your holiday, you sound tired so presume you have been skiing!

  8. No real problems, unusually, for me with a Rufus – the biggest issue was PUT IN THE BOOT, not quite idiomatic in one of the proffered senses. ADVOCATE last in.

  12. Standard Rufus fun for a Monday. Nothing too troublesome or irksome. MAMMAL probably my favourite.

    “Bearing” for a direction always reminds me of Bunthorne’s fabulous “Bearing slash from sword (4)” – EPEE.

  16. Thanks Rufus and Eileen

    Always seen to get onto the wavelength of Rufus, so a nice ‘breather puzzle’ today. Only a slight holdup with SUBSIDIARY after misusing the anagram fodder of 8d to initially write in CROSSWISE.

    I parsed MAMMAL the same as Eileen.

  17. That would be LENGTHWISE … getting late down here.

    Was surprised and happy to see AUSTRALIAN RULES feature here!

  18. Thanks for that, Robi @ 15. 😉

    I was a bit uneasy about the word order [v Trailman @8] but it was such a good idea – ‘motoring case’ indeed! – that I didn’t comment.

  19. Thanks Rufus and Eileen – I hope you’re not going to ruin anyone’s life again today! 🙂

    I found this puzzle easy but entertaining. I particularly liked ENDEAR and EASTER for their definitions. On the downside, I thought OUT was weak and I too was unconvinced by the first definition for PUT IN THE BOOT.

    All in all a nice gentle start to the week.

  20. I don’t keep track of such things, but this was surely my fastest solve yet, at a smidge over 15 minutes. I was only really held up by “put in the boot,” which is a Britishism in both its meanings. Of course, “boot” to mean “trunk” is a well-known trans-Atlantic difference, so I was expecting a boot. I just needed the crossing letters to confirm.

    (When we here wish to describe giving someone a (literal or figurative) swift kick in the butt, we come right out and say it.)

  21. Thanks Rufus & Eileen for this. A fast finish for me too but much longer than 15 mins! Started with ALDRIN and finished with STEALTHE.

  23. PUT THE BOOT IN is the expression normally used. It seems around the wrong way here.

    MAMMAL seems weird as well with the possessive ITS at the front, and using MAMMA, which is the same root, obviously, as MAMMAL. Very dodgy clue.

    It’s an awfully ‘rufous’ puzzle this one. My fault for solving it, I suppose 😀

  24. As I said last Monday, one week without Rufus is no cause for alarm, but two might have been, so welcome back. All fairly straightforward and enjoyable – SUBSIDIARY and ADVOCATE were the last two in.

    Thanks to Eileen and Rufus.

  25. Thanks all
    I cannot accept ” put in the boot”; and it is not justified by quoting a football reference, presumably a pun!
    It was my last in because I couldn’t believe it.

  26. Hi all! Lovely puzzle Rufus, enjoyed it lots; & thank you Eileen for your as-always brilliant blog. LOI was PUT IN THE BOOT, which I really had trouble with…sometimes it’s good to know others feel it’s a bit strange too!! But a great puzzle for a Monday – & always makes me feel like a proper ‘solver’ cos lots go in on the first go!!!

  27. Re solution of PUT IN THE BOOT. The phrase is in Chambers, which I understand is one of the dictionaries recommended for Guardian crosswords.

  28. PUT IN THE BOOT was my LOI and I didn’t like it much. I’ve never heard anyone actually say this whereas PUT THE BOOT IN is very common- not that I live in a violent neighbourhood,you understand. No problem with any of the others.
    Welcome back Rufus.

  30. I’m sure Rufus is right, but it must be better to use the phrase in the way people know! Plus then the awkwardness of the order is capitalized upon for the ‘cryptic’ meaning.

  31. Thanks Eileen and Rufus.

    As others have said, quite a few clues to bring a smile. Despite the controversy I liked PUT IN THE BOOT and also SHEATHE and TYNE.

  32. As a youth, I would often hear bystanders urge fighters in brawls to “put in the boot”. An invocation to “take a tough line” if ever I heard one and used at the point where the victor was still uncertain. Whereas one “put the boot in” when the opponent had been downed. Tough up north.

  33. Well I for one stand corrected by Rufus. PUT IN THE BOOT is indeed in Chambers and I really ought to have checked that before complaining. I’m firmly of the belief that a gap in one’s knowledge is never the setter’s fault.

    Cookie@22: very apt! 🙂

  34. Thanks Eileen and Rufus
    A quick and enjoyable puzzle as several have noted.
    I took 23d to refer to butt as a large cask and as a hiding place for shooting.

  39. Hi tupu

    I’ve been out and only just spotted your comment.

    The blog was rather ambiguous: all the Chambers instances relate to shooting, my second definition. I intended the first one to be barrel = cask – but, of course, guns have barrels, too!

  40. Call me oversensitive, but all the regulars ignoring this first-time contributor’s post really does PUT THE BOOT IN. As a pacifist, I do not plan to retaliate and PUT IN THE BOOT.

  41. Sorry Lancastrian, as a fellow Lancastrian, I thought you might not have posted earlier. I was sure so I didn’t respond as I had never heard such nuances in my home county. (plus I wasn’t bothering to comment on the usual Monday fare!)

    You posted a little late for a response as a lot of the posters on here will be planning their bedtime cocoa at that time. Alternatively they may have been worried about your admitted observance of “feeting” and presumed you were a typical Northern ruffian. 😉

    Only the blogger will be informed of your post and will usual only respond if your post requires some thanks or clarification.

    One certain way of eliciting a response on a Monday is to criticise a Rufus puzzle. Hordes of his fans will blindly jump to his defence. (It’s heart wearming.)

    Anyway, welcome and keep on posting as we always need more than the “usual suspects”.

  42. Hi Lancastrian – or ‘Oversensitive’, if you prefer. 😉

    “Only the blogger will be informed of your post and will usual only respond if your post requires some thanks or clarification.”

    Brendan’s quite right and it’s his comment that has just alerted me to yours, posted after I’d gone to bed. Apologies for not welcoming you as a newcomer. Please keep commenting!

  43. Thanks Brendan and Eileen. Helpful to have the rules explained. I hope I have not unwittingly taken on someone else’s 15squared identity.

  44. A clean solve (no Crossword Solver) and 100% parsed. I know it’s an easy Monday, but this is progress JTS. Ta Rufus and Eileen.

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