Guardian 26,553 – Puck

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Some good Puckish fun, with a theme explained by one clue: I solved this one early on, and it was quite a help in getting some of the other answers. Thanks to Puck, and I look forward to seeing some of you in Cambridge on Saturday.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. POOPED Duck PE in school, if really tired (6)
O + PE in POD (= school of whales etc)
4. COBWEB Dicky bow in church? B___ fairy! (6)
BOW* in CE + B. Cobweb is one of the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
9. ACAI Fruit from WI a cargo brought over? (4)
Hidden in reverse wI A CArgo. Acai berries are sometimes claimed to have near-magical “superfood” properties, and have been the subject of numerous scams
10. GLOOMINESS Top half of Ogen melon is spoilt by small depression (10)
(OG[en] MELON IS)* + S
11. GOOGLE Search for a little girl in Yorkshire town (6)
G in GOOLE
12. DOUBLOON What many here have in common, pointlessly working for money once abroad (8)
The clue that explains the theme: DOUBLE O (as many answers in the puzzle have) less E (compass point) + ON (working)
13. ONE GALLON Volume of gin short knocked back? (3,6)
I nearly had to give up on explaining this, but I think the idea is that if you shorten gin and knock it back you get I G, which is short for ONE GALLON
15. NOON Number one cut? High time! (4)
NO. ON[E]
16. FOOL One that follows E John around is sweet (4)
F (what follows E) + reverse of LOO
17. ASYMPTOTE Line of approach when detailing evidence of sickness in mischief maker (9)
SYMPTO[M] in ATE. An asymptote is a line that a curve approaches at infinity
21. POLTROON After beginning to play round, left golf course an utter coward (8)
P[lay] + O (round) + L + TROON (golf course on the Ayrshire coast)
22. OOMPAH Tuba sound gets top mark in sex appeal (6)
A in OOMPH
24. ASSISTANCE Help moving cases isn’t available, initially (10)
(CASES ISN’T A[vailable])*
25. WOOF Court fine causing outburst from setter? (4)
WOO (to court) + F – the setter here is a dog
26. E SHARP Note turn of phrase (1,5)
PHRASE*
27. ASHRAM Religious community extended period of time at the heart of tea-growing area (6)
ASSAM with the S[econd] at its centre “extended” to an H[ou]R
Down
1. PUCKOON Naked setter? That’s a little novel (7)
PUCK with O (nothing) ON – Spike Milligan’s only novel
2. O-RING Seal drummer finally getting to the top (1-4)
RINGO [Starr] with the O moved to the top. I’m most familiar with this in connection with the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster, which was caused by a failure of O-ring seals
3. EGG CELL Target of many swimmers having little room for breakfast? (3,4)
EGG (breakfast) + CELL (little room) – reference to the many sperm cells that try to fertilise an ovum
5. OSMIUM Element of independence found in well-brought-up mother (6)
I in reverse of SO (well) + MUM
6. WINKLE OUT With difficulty, gradually extract what might be like almost new (6,3)
WINKLE is an anagram (“OUT”) of LIK[E] NEW
7. BASSOON Donkey in favour? Blow that! (7)
ASS in BOON
8. FOOD POISONING Complaint due to wrong fare being given? (4,9)
Cryptic definition
14. GO OUT WITH Date pig turned up carrying fox (2,3,4)
OUTWIT in reverse of HOG
16. FLOOSIE “Female and promiscuous” describes one (7)
F + I in LOOSE, &lit
18. MOONERS There’s nothing in sermon about people showing a bit of cheek (7)
O in SERMON*
19. TEA ROOM Where crumpet might be on offer, put up low rent first (3,4)
TEAR (rent) + reverse of MOO
20. HOOTER Snore too hard, covering up this? (6)
Hidden in reverse of snoRE TOO Hard, &lit
23. MOWER The Guardian’s into sort of music that’s cutting edge (5)
WE in MOR (middle-of-the-road)

47 comments on “Guardian 26,553 – Puck”

  1. Thanks Puck and Andrew

    After a quarter of an hour I was beginning to think that this was an unheralded joint effort, with the top (empty) done by a different compiler than the bottom (essentially complete). However COBWEB and FOOD POISONING opened up the top, though the NW still took a long time (ACAI was new to me). I didn’t understand ONE GALLON either.

    Some lovely clues – WOOF, PUCKOON and O_RING were my favourites.

    E-SHARP is a little odd. It does exist in some obscure key signatures, but it is more usually known as “F”!

  2. [Pedants’ corner – a curve meets an asymptote at infinity; at finite values it approaches it ever closer without meeting.]

  3. Minor point, Andrew; I don’t think the “small” should be underlined in 10a – it gives the “s” as you say, rather than being part of the definition.

  4. Enjoyed this; it was good to have a reminder of the really funny novel. Was glad to have your help with the parsing of 13ac, Andrew, thank you for that, as well as for the blog.
    Thanks to Puck.

  5. Most of this went in very quickly, but I got stuck on 12 because I didn’t see the theme at all.
    I didn’t like the clue for 13 even though I’d got the answer from the crossing letters, and I thought the &lit for HOOTER was a bit vague.
    But I agree with muffin that there were some excellent clues, my favourites being PUCKOON and FLOOSIE.
    Many thanks to Puck and Andrew.

  6. Thanks, Andrew, particularly for ONE GALLON.

    A most enjoyable puzzle, with some lovely clues: GLOOMINESS, ONE GALLON [now it’s explained], POLTROON and ASSISTANCE [great surfaces], PUCKOON, WINKLE OUT, GO OUT WITH and WOOF – among others!

    I didn’t get DOUBLOON until quite late on, after I’d spotted the double Os. As it was a Puck puzzle, the fairy’s name came quite easily. 😉

    Many thanks to Puck – I loved it.

  7. Interesting puzzle. I spent some time at 12a working around ‘outlook’ (what many Guardian readers have in common), and am not sure that EGG CELL quite comes off.

  8. Thanks Puck and Andrew. Have a good time in Cambridge all who are going.

    A fun puzzle. Failed parsing ONE GALLON and ACAI was new. I did like ASHRAM, POLTROON, PUCKOON and GO OUT WITH among others.

    21a, typo O(round), not P(round).

  9. Yet more amazing stuff from Puck! I was more and more impressed as I came across:

    – The setter’s outburst in 25a
    – The cameo from Atë in 17a, who I wouldn’t have recognised a month ago
    – The tip-off to the theme in 12a
    – The beautiful &lit in 16d
    – The indirect double O in 2d
    – The even more indirect Os in 5d

    After all that, I came to an ignominious end by getting stuck in the NW corner. I didn’t know the town or the novel, 13a was too hard for me, and I was in a hurry to come here and rave about today’s spectacular crossword! Many thanks to Puck and Andrew, this must be one of my all-time favourites despite the DNF.

  10. Thanks Puck and Andrew

    I enjoyed this, and the usual puckish humour, but once I got 12ac it became a bit of a write in trying the various double OOs.

    muffin@1 – E# is indeed F, though musicians will argue it sounds a bit different: however it is quite a common key signature, with four sharps.

  11. Nice work, Puck (and thanks Andrew). Did anyone else first consider NEOLOGISMS for 10? It was the first anagram I came up with but obviously doesn’t fit the def.

    I definitely needed the blog’s help for ONE GALLON.

    Contrary to the blog, though, PUCKOON isn’t Spike Milligan’s only novel; He’s done a few, including numerous versions of classic stories (Treasure Island, Frankenstein, The Old Testament to name some).

  12. I really enjoyed this puzzle. I didn’t see the OO theme until I solved DOUBLOON, and the only answer it helped me get was GOOGLE. I read PUCKOON a couple of times many years ago and I still chuckle about the concept of the pub that the Irish border ran through whenever I think about it. The unknown/forgotten ASYMPTOTE was my LOI after I finally saw the wordplay.

  13. It was good to see a Puck puzzle today, complete with some of his characteristic sauciness.

    I’m still not completely convinced by Andrew’s parsing of 13a, but I don’t have an alternative suggestion, let alone a better one. I saw that HR replaced S in ASSAM, and still didn’t see that the S = Second, explaining “extended” – aargh! DOUBLOON gave me the theme, but I’d already done about half the puzzle by then. I’m not sure whether it helped or hindered the rest as I wasted some time trying to fit OO into some answers which didn’t have that.

    My favourites clues were COBWEB, ASYMPTOTE, PUCKOON, OOMPAH and FLOOSIE.

    Thank you for a very enjoyable puzzle, Puck, and thanks too to Andrew for the blog.

  14. E# is not at all a common key signature, Marienkaefer. It would be perverse to use it rather than F (with which it is identical, at least since the equal temperament system was introduced), and I have never come across an example. The key signature would not only require more than four sharps (that would be E major) – it would require some double sharps in it too!

    As a note, though, E# is perfectly reasonable, although still not that common. It would be the leading note in F# minor, for instance.

  17. Enjoyed this very much – thank you, Puck.
    And thank you, Andrew – especially for explaining ONE GALLON and ASHRAM.
    Favourite was WOOF, perhaps because I watched some Rumpole last night.

  18. Thanks Puck – nice setting with about 17 OOs (not including another three in row 10 and columns 9&13, and the ‘indirects.’)

    Thanks Andrew; I couldn’t parse ONE GALLON, but your explanation looks right to me. For once I did spot the theme fairly early on, and it did help with fitting in some of the latter answers.

    I especially liked FOOL, WOOF and WINKLE OUT (I’m a sucker for reverse clues. 😉 )

  19. Nice and Puckish – as expected.

    Missed the theme (as ever) so wondered where the other O came from in 12a.

    My first thought (naturally) arising from double-O was that it must have something to do with train sets (OO gauge – Horny Dublo etc) – I suppose most people had the same experience. Cunning misdirection on the part of the setter.

    I’m not really clear what your quibble is @2 muffin.

    The second part your of your sentence confirms that the given definition is actually extremely accurate. The first part is a mile off. Talk about what happens “at infinity” is nonsense – almost as bad as “parallel lines meeting at infinity” – a rough and ready description for an artist – nonsense for a mathematician. Stuff “tends to” infinity – but the nature of infinity is that you can never actually get there – ie you can never be “at” it.

    Easy one for me from the def but surprised to find it there at all as this setter is usually more at home with Midsummer Night’s Dream and Leprechauns than (Qaos’s department) science labs and maths.

    Many thanks to setter and blogger.

  20. As usual I needed Andrew’s parsing for some answers I had winkled out but not understood. E.g., I got POLTROON from the initial POL but only guessed at TROON as a golf course, just as GOOGLE emerged without knowing Goole. I got FOOL from the reverse of Loo but missed the F after E and did not grasp the logic behind ASHRAM. I’m still having trouble with ONE GALLON, and MOR for Middle of the Road was an item to be added to my vocabulary. Still, lots of fun here, so thanks to Puck and Andrew. Note: ACAI turned up in this week’s Wednesday N.Y. Times crossword.

  21. Is “fairy” in the sense implied in the surface reading of 4ac (“B___ fairy!”) not offensive in the UK? Here, it’s a fairly objectionable term for a gay man–not as pejorative as that other F word, but still pretty bad. I wasn’t actually offended, since it was obvious that the other meaning of fairy was intended in the clue. Just mildly surprised to see it in a newspaper crossword, and therefore a little curious about usage over there.

    Regarding the crossword itself–doubloon was my LOI, and I hadn’t spotted the theme before that. Caused a big “so NOW you tell me!” reaction. Loved too many clues to list.

  22. I enjoyed it, and Andrew’s comments. But the XW is numbered 26533 at the top of this page, when it’s really 26553.

  24. Lovely vibrant, creative crossword – and another fine blog, which was needed for a couple of explanations.

    Thanks both.

  25. Took me about 5 minutes to get anything, but once a few crossers were in place this was very enjoyable – full of the usual humour and invention, with a nice mixture of devices. Last in was ONE GALLON, which I failed to parse, so thanks for that. Liked ASYMPTOTE, POLTROON and ASHRAM.

    Thanks to Puck and Andrew

  26. Thanks all
    Favourite was 16 down; last in was 13ac.
    I tried ‘Onegin’ gin short is one?
    Enjoyable.

  28. It was one of those words that got used a lot in playground banter in the days before we’d heard of political correctness – a lot of those would rightly be regarded as offensive now…

  29. Message to anyone offended by “fairy” or surprised that it is permitted here….

    Only an oversensitive uneducated moron would want to ban “fairy” just becasue it also has a modern usage which is, afterall, merely a slang usage. Just think what would need to be censored, starting with Shakespeare, and then stop being bloody stupid!

    Tooth money comes from the tooth fairy. Xmas trees have a xmas fairy. Children are read fairy tales. Pantomimes have a good fairy. Does anybody seriously want Grimm’s Children’s Stories? etc etc etc. Well then, shut up.

    (muffin @1, um, sorry to mention it, but it’s “different from” not “different than”, otherwise “other/rather from” would also be valid, which they aren’t)

  30. After Qaos’ efforts last week, Puck takes the crown with a fine triple nina. Agopa, Owoinor and Itegreo – respectively the Greek, Norse and Roman gods of those who over-analyse crosswords. Oo, indeed.

  31. Derek Lazenby @29 … no-one has proposed banning the word “fairy”. mrpenney @21 just wondered whether the usage in 4a was as potentially offensive in the UK as it is in the USA. In my own experience, the accusation would be more one of feyness than gayness in wearing a bowtie in public.

  32. I couldn’t parse ONE GALLON and, having read both the blog and comments, I still don’t see it. Rather a weak clue I thought. Apart from that I quite enjoyed this. I did think the bottom half somewhat more accessible than the top. LOI GOOGLE – which I thought brilliant. I used to know a girl from Goole called Gale- which sound like the beginning of an improper song. Where was I? Ah the theme. I didn’t see it until I’d finished so it wasn’t much help to me.
    Thanks Puck

  33. JS @19
    Sorry – I was commenting on the blog rather than the clue – I didn’t make that clear.

    Derek @29
    Quite right – I read it after I posted and thought “that doesn’t look right” – oh well!

  34. Van Winkle @31: thanks–that’s about what I figured (and also indeed the sense in which I intended the question).

    And for the record, Derek @29: I reiterate that I wasn’t (even remotely) offended,* and have no desire to censor anything. In fact, I’d probably allow a rather looser standard of decency than the newspaper itself would.

  35. Thanks to Andrew for the blog, and to others for comments.

    Glad to see most seem to have enjoyed the puzzle, and it’s good to be back after a slightly longer break than usual.

    For non-musicians (and musicians without advanced music theory), the note E sharp is enharmonically the same as F (eg it’s the same note on a keyboard). E sharp is however what the note is called in some musical keys: F sharp major (6 sharps) and C sharp major (7 sharps); and it’s the middle note of the major triad chord in C sharp major. E sharp also appears in the scale of F sharp harmonic minor.

    Re 13ac: My original version was a bit longer, with two wordplays and a semi-&lit approach, but the clue was shortened at edit stage. Perhaps it would have been better to keep it as was: Volume of gin short knocked back to make you somewhat tight?

  36. Mr Penney may find that The Guardian is a famously left-leaning and generally rather PC paper whose crossword is almost as famously unfussed about such delicate matters. I find it anomalous and indeed annoying that this paper allows its compilers to make these crass references, even at 16d, which apart from being sexist and misogynist is a very good &lit, and I wish it would all jolly well stop. Then there’s the serious illnesses …

    In reality of course, The Grauniad’s uptight, strait-laced, prudish and puritanical readers all retire to a secret crosswording closet and bang out 26 or so answers in sinful bliss.

  37. van winkle@30 Welsh rather than Norse to an English ear I think. ‘Fairy ‘ is very old fashioned and goes back to the time bef ore decriminalisation

  38. I know nobody here was taking that opinion, but that opinion was being reported. My message was to those who were being repoirted. Sorry if there was any confusion.

  39. Thanks Puck @ 35 for dropping in.

    Re E sharp – although I started the hare, your explanation is almost exactly what I said, though you explained it in more detail.

    (Marienkaefer @ 10 – I realise that you recanted, but I still wonder how a pianist might distinguish E sharp from F – though I accept that a violinist might be able to.)

  40. There’s a long history of the equation such that gay = weak, you silly old pansies. But, as anyone who has ever had drum lessons with Lloyd Ryan will tell you (since Lloyd for a considerable time, as a sideline, managed and was the spokesperson for ‘legendary masked heel’ Kendo Nagasaki), this is a very serious misapprehension.

  42. @Muffin Thanks for getting back – I hadn’t noticed it in the blog. I think we have agreement – “at infinity” should be “as it tends towards infinity”.

    Re FAIRY

    When I first arrived in Australia most branded goods were familiar and the same as those available in the UK. I usually used the top-of-the-range (natch) washing-up product Fairy Liquid. First time in the supermarket I couldn’t find any and after enquiring I ended up with half the floor staff around me, all equally bemused; none had even heard of this product

    They helpfully suggested an alternative, but I couldn’t work out why so many of them were giggling.

    I don’t know to this day if it’s available under an alias. Some products are renamed to suit local customs. Eg mangetouts are called snow peas – presumably to avoid the unfrenchified and more phonetic manner of local pronunciation which would have them as mangey touts.

  44. Great fun puzzle – big thanks. Good blog, Peter O, I had ONE GALLON as you and rather liked it myself…

  45. Only just posting now as it has taken this long to parse ONE GALLON. Didn’t think g was ever used as an abbreviation for gallon (always gal), but its in Chambers…

    Loved the crossword though – thanks to Puck and Andrew.

    As to fairy, maybe I’ve been reading the Guardian too long, but I thought the clue was slightly dodgy. The word fairy itself is fine in other contexts, but I can only read the surface as a bit homophobic. Dicky bow in church? Bloody fairy! Not sure how else it could be interpreted?

  47. Thanks Puck and Andrew

    Another that had sat undone for a long time – what a fun puzzle once I got to it though !!!

    DOUBLOON was about my 6th-7th last in – so it wasn’t that much help, except to flag a theme before having to be told that there was one here!!

    Lots of good stuff with a wide variety of devices along with his trademark humour throughout. Took my time and was able to parse everything out – needing some reference help with GOOLE and PUCKOON. Was especially chuffed to see what was going on with ONE GALLON which was my last one in.

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