Guardian 26,739 / Picaroon

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It is not often that I get the opportunity to blog a Guardian puzzle but this time I have struck lucky with a Picaroon. However, with only a handful of entries during my first pass through the clues, I thought I was going to struggle with this one but in the end that was not the case.

I had two of the thematic entries (19dn & 25,17,11) before solving 8,13ac but this solution then helped with 9,18,22dn,7 because I knew that it must contain a reference to SPRING. Overall, a most enjoyable solve.

Across
9,18,22down,7 Hark! Chirping, cooing in tree and soft sun represented in this piece? (2,7,3,5,6,2,6)
ON HEARING THE FIRST CUCKOO IN SPRING – an anagram (represented) of HARK CHIRPING COOING IN TREE SOFT SUN

10 Insincere phrases and love verses (5)
CANTO – CANT (insincere phrases) O (love)

12 Bouncer grabs bottom in circuit training — it’s pungent stuff (3,6)
HOT PEPPER – HOPPER (bouncer) around (grabs) [circui]T (bottom in circuit) PE (training)

14 Prepared to pass through study (7)
READIED – DIE (to pass) in (through) READ (study)

19 Milk or some butter on the turn (3)
TAP – PAT (some butter) reversed (on the turn)

20 Fire somewhat disappointing leader (5)
INGLE – hidden in (somewhat) ‘disappointING LEader’

21 Woman cheers, wrapping present with son (7)
THERESA – TA (cheers) around (wrapping) HERE (present) S (son)

22 Theory about universe’s function is grasped by millions (7)
COSMISM – COS (function) IS in (grasped by) MM (millions)

24 Record introduction of injection still concerned with genetic interaction (9)
EPISTATIC – EP (record) I[njection] (introduction of injection) STATIC (still)

26 Pompous little girl’s two mothers (5)
MADAM – MA DAM (two mothers)

28 A key passage (5)
AISLE – A ISLE (key)

29 Gone mad, raging about Australia’s old chairman (3,6)
MAO ZEDONG – an anagram (raging) of GONE MAD around (about) OZ (Australia)

Down
1 Racket by small banks (4)
ROWS – ROW (racket) S (small)

2 A bit macho, an aggressive nasal feature (6)
CHOANA – hidden in (a bit) ‘maCHO AN Aggressive’

3 Champion enters run with starter, perhaps, here (10)
RACECOURSE – ACE (champion) in (enters) R (run) COURSE (starter, perhaps) – with an extended def.

5 Political art or new pop art soldier’s framed (8)
AGITPROP – an anagram (new) of POP ART around (‘s framed) GI (soldier) – my initial reading of the wordplay would lead to ‘gatpropi’, or some other non-word, but I suppose that ‘soldier’s’ can be read as ‘soldier is’ as well as ‘soldier has’.

6 Desire husband with fabulous clothing (4)
ACHE – H (husband) in (with … clothing) ACE (fabulous)

8,13across Noted piece following Guardian’s main issue (4,7)
FOUR SEASONS – F (following) OUR (Guardian’s) SEA (main) SONS (issue)

13 Riddle takes week for writer (5)
SWIFT – SIFT (riddle) around (takes) W (week)

15,4,16 Cracking grin, mum had sat immersed in fairy tale (1,9,6,5)
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM – an anagram (cracking) of GRIN MUM HAD SAT IMMERSED

19 Gold pot in fashion in poem (2,6)
TO AUTUMN – AU (gold) TUM (pot) in TON (fashion)

23 Batting, stick around to catch ball — not out (6)
INDOOR – IN (batting) ROD (stick) reversed (around) around (to catch) O (ball)

24 Where to buy and sell drug (horse) (4)
EBAY – E (drug) BAY (horse)

25,17,11 List new theatre plays, or a classic one (3,7,4)
THE WINTER’S TALE – an anagram (plays) of LIST NEW THEATRE

27 Great American rock making comeback (4)
MEGA – A (American) GEM (rock) reversed (making comeback)

44 comments on “Guardian 26,739 / Picaroon”

  1. Thanks, Gaufrid.

    I found this hard to get into – at one point thinking “is it Saturday?” – but after a little perseverance it gave way gracefully. I liked the accidental topicality of MAO ZEDONG, and loved the ingenuity of THEW/INTER/STALE.

  2. The enumeration to 1a was a bit of a scary start, but it all came together

    Coincidence that 29a is mentioned on the front page.

    Pity the funny splits in 25d weren’t further used, e.g. in cross referencing the new words.

    Like EBAY COSMISM MAO ZEDONG and more

    Many thanks Picaroon and Gaufrid

    many

  3. Thank’s Gaufrid and Picaroon.

    I found this quite straightforward, except in the closing stages. The long ones fell quite quickly; it might have been quicker, as I solved without looking at the setter to see if I could guess him/her. Had I known it was Picaroon would have looked for a theme.

    I didn’t know THEW (25d) as a word, but I see it means muscular strength.

    I now see the “main issue” in 8, 13 refers to defining the theme.

  4. A tremendous puzzle. It also took me some time to get into, but that made it all the more satisfying. Favourites were MAO ZEDONG, HOT PEPPER, MEGA and TO AUTUMN. Many thanks to Picaroon (a favourite setter) and to Gaufrid.

  5. Coincidentally, I was looking at the clue for 8,13 while listening to Radio 3, when they began to play the solution!

    I thought the clue for ON HEARING THE FIRST CUCKOO IN SPRING was brilliant.

    Well done Picaroon and thanks to Gaufrid.

  6. Thank you Picaroon and Gaufrid.

    Great fun, especially THE WINTER’S TALE!

    After having two seasons solved, SPRING and WINTER, I started to look for AUTUMN without success, so thought 8d might be FALL, of course it would not parse.

    FOUR SEASONS, an S is missing – perhaps SEA and SON in OUR’S?

  7. Because my first themed clues were THE WINTERS TALE and A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM, I ended up getting stuck on the wrong theme for a while, until Wikipedia convinced me that there was no (2,7,3,5,6,2,6) Shakespeare play that I couldn’t remember. Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid.

  9. Dave Ellison @3: THEW is also polari for thigh, as devotees of Julian and Sandy in Round the Horne will know, but perhaps polari doesn’t count.

  10. Thanks Picaroon and Gaufrid.

    This was a good steady solve, helped by getting 9 etc early on from a single crosser (MAO, which was my first in). That opened things up, but I missed the theme as usual.

    All in all another excellent and light-hearted puzzle, for me.

  11. Thanks Picaroon and Gaufrid

    I took one look and got nine across etc. immediately. I think that’s a bit of a pity, because all the clever cluing went to waste. I wonder if perhaps it should be made a bit harder for us by indicating the number of words rather than the letters?

  12. Marienkaefer @11. You’re probably in a minority in getting 9ac at first glance. I know the work well, but didn’t spot it until I had a few crossers; and I can imagine that there are plenty of solvers whose knowledge of the classical repertoire is sketchy at best. Having said that, I rarely try to solve clues like this from the anagram – almost always it’s a combination of lateral thinking, ‘de-dum-de-dumming’ the rhythm of the enumeration and using the crossers. That’s how I solved Araucaria’s classic Old Vicarage clue. I generally then appreciate the clever cluing in retrospect as it were, so I wouldn’t say that it goes to waste.
    But I’m sure we all have our different ways of approaching this sort of clue.

  13. This is correctly clued and good.

    The only thing that’s loose for me is the ‘millions’ in 22a to mean MM . This is a problem because you can get M either by ‘million’ or ‘millions’. It could have easily been changed.

  14. A rather odd mixture. This seemed impenetrable at first, then THE WINTERS TALE got the ball rolling and the rest of the themed longer ones fell pretty quickly, leaving a few obscure odds and end to sort out – CHOANA, COSMISM and EPISTATIC were all new to me but all very guessable from the wordplay. One of those that is easy enough to complete but there were a few for which I didn’t fully check the parsings…

    Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrif

  15. Like others, I had to double check a couple in the dictionary (CHOANA, EPISTATIC) but the cluing was straightforward in these cases. I’m not sure whether I was lucky or not to spot the long anagram at 9a without pausing for thought: by numeration as much as anything. It made it a quick solve for me (by no means always the case!) but that didn’t diminish the pleasure, particularly at the wonderful THE WINTERS TALE. Thoroughly enjoyable.
    Thanks to P and G

  16. Thanks to Picaroon and Gaufrid. I had a slow start because I misread the spacing for WINTER’S TALE, did not catch on to 9a, and did not know CHOANA, EPISTATIC, and COSMISM (though the clues were sufficient – and I see that my spell-checker just rejected all three). Last in was ROWS where I had trouble filling in the _O_S. As usual from this setter, very enjoyable.

  17. THEWINTERSTALE was my LOI as I couldn’t make head nor tail of the division until then. 9ac etc and 15down were both write ins and I was expecting the rest to be easy and most of it was, well,easyish!
    I had to look up CHOANA and EPISTATIC even though the wordplay made them fairly obvious.
    I presume the puzzle was set prior to John McDonnell’s speech but the juxtaposition made me smile.
    Thanks Picaroon.

  18. Helped a bit by having read THE WINTER’S TALE over the last few days before seeing it on cinema transmission tonight. Against that, hindered by the Guardian site (unusually, I’m not on paper today) not giving the location of 7 down in the clue. With long clues going in without too much trouble, that just left short ones to agonise over, with ROWS taking almost as long as the rest of the puzzle!

  19. I do agree – a most enjoyable solve, even if quite swift for a Thursday. I was pleased to read Rog @12’s comment as I too had thoughts of the Old Vicarage. Though easier to solve I thought (it came to me before the other seasons appeared, but after FOUR SEASONS) it certainly vies with it for prize of “most delightfully apt, even poetic, use of phrase of around thirty letters in a crossword anagram”. I can’t recall if there’s an Oscar for this…..but nicely done, Picaroon.
    And, unsurprisingly, a note perfect blog from our leader – our very own Gau Zedong!

  20. Marienkaefer @11

    Maybe we are in the minority, but 9Aetc, was my first in as well – not from the enumeration, but the apposite anagrist. I was using PeeDee’s utility to solve the puzzle, and however it works, it managed to place 7D correctly, so I did not even notice its absence!
    Delius also gets a mention in yesterday’s1 Aardvark in the FT; I have not found any anniversary, so it is probably a coincidence.

  21. Very pleasurable puzzle. I too am one of the minority for whom cuckoo etc was first in! After a scary minute or so I just tried to think of a piece of music with that enumeration and got lucky, I suppose. Great fun from Picaroon, and thanks to Gaufrid for the blog.

  22. Thanks, Gaufrid, for the blog.

    Late to the party today but I just had to say how much I enjoyed this lovely puzzle.

    Like PeterO, I got 9ac etc immediately, more from the surface [excellent as always from Picaroon] than from the enumeration. I know cuckoos don’t chirp or coo but the suggestion of birdsong and soft sun was evocative enough, together with the enumeration, to suggest the answer. The rest of the delightful theme then revealed itself in a most satisfying way.

    When I had T?P for 19ac I thought it must be TUP, for the ‘butter on the turn’ [I’ve done too many cryptic crosswords] but, of course, couldn’t fit the milk in.

    I loved the ‘Winter’s Tale’ device – well, I loved it all: huge thanks, as ever, to Picaroon.

  23. Please ignore my observation re ‘tup’ – I solved this puzzle in the early hours, when I couldn’t sleep, and misremembered my befuddled thinking when writing my comment. 🙁

  24. Trailman @ 18

    The RSC is doing the Dream next year, so you should be able to see a transmission of that if not in the flesh.

    Eileen @ 22 – you are right that these killer birds don’t chirp, though they get to cooing half way through, but like you it was these words which got me immediately to the answer.

  25. Thanks all

    Spent the morning playing golf and the afternoon cooking, so didn’t feel up to this after a first pass yielded nothing. On seeing the answer to the long one (which I had spotted as an anagram) I was quite relieved – one of my least favourite pieces (and composers, for that matter).

    Picaroon is one of my two or three favourite compliers, but I do need to come to him fresh!

  26. 9a was also my first in, the words of the clue suggested CUCKOO, but one had to decide if it went in 22d or 7d – once placed in 22d the title of the piece came to mind. I then looked, without luck, for ‘Summer Night on the River’.

  27. Rog@9 “devotees of Julian and Sandy in Round the Horne will know” I was/am one but I must have forgotten that one.

  28. Well, it looks like I’m in a minority of one yet again this week.

    The first pass solved all the “long” clues excepting the “On hearing”. However with the other easy clues spread around this followed seconds later.

    The rest was polished off very quickly. Never heard of CHOANA but the cluing was very clear. (I thought I had already met all the facial features in crosswordland as they are very popular but here was one more!)

    Very disappointing as it was all done and dusted very quickly. Having seen the pirate’s name I was looking forward to a challenge.

    Off to the Times for the third time this week 🙁

    Hopefully we’ll have a real “stinker” tomorrow as we are owed it!

    Thanks to Gaufrid and Picaroon.

  29. Thanks Picaroon and thanks Gaufrid, enjoyable puzzle and blog. COSMISM and CHOANA were new words to me.

    Am I the only person who doesn’t get ton for fashion? What am I missing?

  30. Charles @29

    It is obscure but in the dictionary. (Very poplular in Crosswordland!)

    OED

    ton

    Etymology: French ton manner in general < Latin tonus , tone n. in colouring, etc.

    a. The fashion, the vogue, the mode; fashionable air or style. See also bon-ton n. at bon adj. h.

    1769 Lloyd's Evening Post 18–20 Dec. 589 The present fashionable Ton (a word used at present to express every thing that's fashionable) is a set of French puppets.

  32. Thanks Gaufrid.

    Late on parade and only came to say how much I enjoyed this.

    Cuckoo broke my duck and steady progress thereafter. Spotted the theme right at the end (as usual).

    Lovely, elegant clueing, many thanks to our resident pirate.

    Nice weekend, all.

  37. After a very noisy Waterboys concert and after buying some lunch for tomorrow from the 24hr Tesco here, I started this puzzle only at 11.30pm.
    It was all over about half an hour later.
    Very well clued but perhaps the easiest Picaroon so far [at least, for me].
    Just right for the time of day.
    That said, I find ‘Four Seasons’ a bit unsatisfying as Vivaldi’s brainchild is really called ‘The Four Seasons’.
    Last one in: the short TAP (19ac).

    Many thanks to Gaufrid & Picaroon.

  38. What a cracking puzzle.

    All that cross-referencing and the big anagrams were reminiscent of some of Araucaria’s best work – and reasonably gettable on account of the familiarity of the answers – provided one got a few of the other clues of course.

    One of the best for a while.

    Many thanks to S&B.

  41. I seem to be in the minority, in that I really disliked the enumeration of THE WINTER’S TALE. Although I concede it was very clever clueing, it felt a bit like cheating – but I suppose all’s fair in love and crosswords.

    otoh it was my second one in (I tend to go for the clues that are obviously anagrams first)so I guess I can’t really complain!

  42. A bit late now, but the extra digging I should have done is opened the Chambers that is two foot from my left hand and looked at the definition of ton.

  43. Thanks Gaufrid and Picaroon.

    This was a high quality puzzle but like Sil it was over all too quickly for me.

    I second MarionH’s comment about the enumeration of THE WINTERS TALE. Whilst all 3 are words in their own right, the individual words do not make the answer.

    But, the solution to the clue is clear in itself and in the context of the puzzle overall, so ………

    Thought EBAY was excellent – although whenever I use it I find myself up a gumtree!

  44. Thanks Picaroon and Gaufrid

    Only got to this one yesterday … and enjoyed it immensely !

    In the minority here for a different reason … 9a was near to my last one in, even after being aware of the clever theme. Just not a piece that I’m familiar with, so had to slog my way through it. MAO ZEDONG was my first in.

    Appreciated the cleverness in many ways – the theme ushered in by 8 13, the interesting word separation in 25 17 11, the long anagrams and the general mix of other clue devices.

    ROWS was my last one in.

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