Guardian 26,630 by Chifonie

by

Plenty of fun, and trickier than usual for a Chifonie. Favourites 10ac and 21ac.

Across
1 PASTRY
Finished railway after getting dough (6)

PAST=”Finished”, plus R[ailwa]Y
4 SAPPHO
Fool meets local love poetry writer (6)

SAP=”Fool”, plus P[ublic] H[ouse]=”Local”, plus O=”love”
9 VETO
Investigate old block (4)

VET=”Investigate”, plus O[ld]
10 STATECRAFT
Diplomacy in, say, a ship (10)

STATE=”say”, plus CRAFT=”a ship”
11 HARLEM
Novice appears in the Seraglio in New York (6)

L[earner]=”novice” inside HAREM=”Seraglio”
12 LANDMARK
Turning point for country evangelist (8)

Definition referring to an event rather than a location. LAND=”country”, plus MARK=”evangelist” and author of the Gospel of Mark.
13 CLOSE DOWN
Near to getting depressed? Gets wind up! (5,4)

“Wind up” as in to bring to an end, with ‘wind’ sounding like ‘wined’. CLOSE=”near” plus DOWN=”depressed”
15 STUD
Boss‘s endless research (4)

STUD[y]=”research” without its end
16 COPY
Model is bashful grabbing a pee (4)

COY=”bashful” around P[ee]
17 SHANGRI-LA
Garnish whipped up by the French in earthly paradise (7-2)

(Garnish)*, plus LA=”the [in] French”
21 NEPOTISM
Partiality gets me in post improperly (8)

(nepotism)*
22 WIRING
Power supply has one in distress (6)

I=”one” inside WRING=”distress”
24 SUBTERFUGE
Deception begs future involvement (10)

(begs future)*
25 GOUT
Complaint of German leader? Impossible! (4)

G[erman], plus OUT=”Impossible”=not worth consideration
26 SCREEN
Guard noticed protecting crown (6)

SEEN=”noticed” around CR[own]
27 HEATED
Passionate earl in dance of death (6)

E[arl] in (death)*
Down
1 PREVAIL
Overwhelm clergyman aboard vessel (7)

REV[erend]=”clergyman”, inside PAIL=”vessel”
2 SCOWL
Lower small hood (5)

S[mall] plus COWL=”hood”
3 RESUMED
CV deputy head gets to work on again (7)

RESUME=”CV” plus D[eputy]
5 AGEING
German company meeting a German government is getting on (6)

AG=Aktiengesellschaft, a German joint stock company; plus EIN=”a [in] German]”; plus G[overnment]
6 PERIMETER
Limit of frost accepted by apostle (9)

RIME=”frost”, inside PETER=”apostle”
7 OFFERED
Turned European left-wing? That’s proposed! (7)

OFF=”Turned” as in milk going sour; plus E[uropean]; plus RED=”left-wing”
8 GALLOWS HUMOUR
German leader grants time, without hesitation, for dry wit (7,6)

G[erman], plus ALLOWS=”grants”, plus HOUR=”time” around UM=”hesitation”
14 SUPPORTER
Consume drink in a second (9)

SUP=”Consume”; plus PORTER=”drink”, a dark beer
16 CHEQUES
Means of payment for said American bills (7)

Sounds like ‘checks’=”American [for restaurant] bills”
18 NOWHERE
Instantly introduce queen to man out of the running (7)

NOW=”Instantly”, plus E[lizabeth] R[egina]=”queen” inside HE=”man”
19 LANGUID
Laid gun carelessly when relaxed (7)

(Laid gun)*
20 PIERCE
Support civil engineer cut to the quick (6)

PIER=”Support”, plus C[ivil] E[ngineer]
23 RIGHT
Terror when losing head is appropriate (5)

[f]RIGHT=”terror” without its head

41 comments on “Guardian 26,630 by Chifonie”

  1. I enjoyed this a lot. Sure, it was quite easy but none the worse for that. LOI was VETO.
    Good fun.
    Thanks Chifonie.

  2. Thanks Chifone and manehi

    I enjoyed this puzzle – it was clearly clued and I could parse all of my solutions, so I was very happy.

    My favourite was GALLOWS HUMOUR.

  4. Easy or not I always enjoy the Chifonie puzzles. Re the blog, in 21a “me in post” should be the anagram fodder. Thanks to Chifonie and to manehi for the parsing of AGEING.

  6. Thanks Chifonie and manehi.

    A most enjoyable puzzle. GALLOWS HUMOUR was new to me.

    I particularly liked SAPPHO, STATECRAFT, HARLEM and CLOSE DOWN.

  7. This well-crafted puzzle was all over far too soon. Great surfacing mostly, though slight reservation over the definition’s tense in 3dn.
    My favourites were CLOSE DOWN, NEPOTISM and SUBTERFUGE (I relish neat anagrams).
    Many thanks to Chifonie (and respect to manehi for an exemplary blog).

  8. Thanks to manehi for the blog. I needed you to explain the parsing for 7d. I had the right answer but could not see why it was right. 🙁

    When I first looked at 6d I had the initial P in place so assumed the apostle to be Paul. Clearly the answer had to be PA—-FUL. The I got 12a so had to think again about 6d.

  9. Roughly the same solving time as yesterday and a few other similarities too – GALLOWS HUMOUR standing in for DANCE ATTENDANCE perhaps, and LANGUID for ABLUTION or another of Shed’s nice words. 27a my favourite. Yet overall I found yesterday that little bit more fun – a little bit more inventive in the clueing, I felt, though that’s without a detailed analysis to back up my claim.

  10. A very nice puzzle from Chifonie, as ever. Interesting that there were a lot of references to Germany, but no actual theme.

    I don’t quite understand “RESUMED” – “work on again” is present tense, not past.

  11. I’m afraid Chifonie is not a name I look forward to seeing, but this did at least require some thought in places. Last in was SCREEN after SCOWL.

    Thanks to manehi and Chifonie

  12. aaargh thought I’d cracked this one but had PARAMETER rather than PERIMETER. serves me right for making up words.

  13. Yes, nicely clued and well put together. Like Shroduck@10, I wondered about the tense of RESUMED. Favourites were GALLOWS HUMOUR, SAPPHO, AGEING and PASTRY. Thanks to Chifonie and manehi.

  14. bat020 @12, cheer up, parameter is a proper word, a mathematical term, and one of the definitions in the OCED suggests a boundary, “within the parameters of the inquiry”.

  16. Thanks Chifonie and manehi
    Pleasant and smooth solve, though without many smiles. SAPPHO was my favourite.

  17. Thanks Chifonie and manehi

    Rushed through this one … and as often happens in a rush the LEGO block that I meant to check why ‘leg’ would equal investigate got missed before I came here … 🙁

    Always enjoy Chifonie, even though I do find him quite a straightforward solve.

    Did wonder about LANGUID quite meaning ‘relaxed’ … but I guess if one’s not doing anything because of indolence, etc., one would be quite relaxed !

  18. Who was that guy who came in here every day and posted the single word, “Completed”? Whatever happened to him? Anyway, “completed.” Not much else to say about this one, for me. Nothing stood out as either remarkably good, bad, hard, or easy. Which I guess hits the spot for a Wednesday.

    As a side note, of all the British spellings, “cheque” is the one that I find just about the oddest. “Check” is more straightforward, and already existed as a word before anyone invented checking–er, chequing?—accounts.

  19. Thanks Chifonie & Manehi. Not a setter I look forward to but today was fine for a brief distraction from a busy day. I have 3 comments:
    I think 3 dn is a dud clue. The tense is wrong or the wordplay leads to “DRESUME” Worked on again’ would have been simpler and correct.
    Hieroglyph in the Independent very recently wrote a clever clue for AGING and no-one here complained about American spelling. With that fresh in my mind I agonised over 5dn even though the wordplay was very clear.
    To mrpenney @18, the distinct spelling makes perfect sense. I was always bemused by Americans asking for “the check” and paying with “a check”. Now that is confusing. And to return the favour, the oddest American spelling to me is the slang for bottom – “ass”, hence the frequent association with donkeys. The word is “arse”, pronunced almost the same but nothing to do with braying quadrupeds.

  20. @mrp – English spellings are remnants of the derivation of the word, rather than an aid to pronunciation. I should think cheque comes from the same root as ‘exchequer’, who counted the money on a sort of chess board for totalling purposes. The old French origin of chess is ‘eshec’ (or ‘eschac’), which it is thought came from the Arabic word ‘shah’ for King.

    Although the American versions are undoubtedly more user-friendly, I do think it is lovely to have these pointers to the long story of a word’s development visible from its, albeit quirky, spelling – and we lose a lot if that is taken away.

  22. mrpenney@18.
    Ccmpleted.
    Alive and well, and living in a place where trolls stay, generally, safely under bridges.

  23. Cookie – quite right..brainfade! (and haste).

    [ as confirmed by Wikipedia:

    “The earliest evidence of chess is found in the nearby Sassanid Persia around 600, where the game came to be known by the name chatrang. Chatrang was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia (633–44), where it was then named shatranj […] but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian sh?h (“king”), which was familiar as an exclamation and became the English words “check” and “chess”. “

    Interesting that, after all this, ‘check’ in chess is spelt ‘ck’! ]

  25. I don’t want to play the Hedgehog at all, but RESUMED is the sort of thing that makes me wonder whether Guardian puzzles are actually test solved or edited. I wonder the same thing most Mondays, to be honest.

  26. Thanks Chifone and manehi

    Limeni @ 20 et al ff: taking the chess thread a little further, I had heard ages ago that check mate derives from ‘shah mat’, “the king is dead”. Can anyone confirm?

  27. [HKColin @19
    I agree about “arse”, but it does rather spoil the limerick about the young girl from Madras…………..]

  28. sorry manehi (and anyone else still awake!) for the thread derailment.

    Simon S – I never knew that, but from what I read you are right.

    Thinking about it, the Arab (from whom we learned the game) word for ‘shah’ would actually be ‘sheik’, which sounds a lot more like ‘check’, ‘eschec’ etc.

  29. Well at least this Chifonie had nothing controversial in it.

    Very easy and presumably unedited. (No other explanation for RESUMED comes to mind)

    Thanks to manehi and Chifonie

  30. HKColin@19: There are few restaurants left where you can pay your check with a check (cash or charge only), but of course you can pay your charges by charge. Similarly, the coat-check, in most places, only takes cash. But if you’re ogling the cashier at your grocery store, you are checking out the check-out guy (or gal).

    If you test the public-address system before a concert by saying, “Testing, 123, I’d like to thank my good pal President Obama,” that’s a mike check using a name check. And instead of ticking boxes, Americans check them, so we have checklists, and you can check things off of them. We aren’t so gauche as to misspell Czech, though.

    Checking out for the day…

    –M.

  35. Re checkmate/ shah mat, it’s the master, king, etc is dead/ helpless, AFAIK. There are some arguments about it, but I think that’s the gist.

  36. I justified 3D to myself by thinking that work that’s “on again” has been resumed, with “gets to” in the clue just meaning “this is how you build the answer”.

  39. RCW @38
    Curious – I don’t think it would ever have occurred to me to spell it “aging” – if I saw that, I would have pronounced it “agging”, I think!

  40. A Guardian Weekly subscriber, I filled in about half and put it aside. Got to 2/3 and decided to brute force it online.

    My main problem is distinguishing surfaces.
    1a I was sure was “finished” (Ry after dough)
    11 I was sure meant “novice” (Seraglio in NY)
    14 I was sure was “consume” (drink within a drink)
    My next problem is comprehending the positional words.
    1d I thought aboard meant atop, not inside.

    Finally (16a) coy hasn’t meant bashful for a long long time. Bashful shows a lack of social skills, while to be coy one has far too many.

  41. Thanks manehi and Chifonie.

    All over very quickly. Done on the first pass.

    Had no problem with 3dn. My only gripe was SUPPORT in the answer to 14dn and the clue to 20dn. Looks like it was run off a bit too quick!

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