Guardian Cryptic 26,795 by Rufus

by

Thanks Rufus for a very enjoyable start to the week. Favourites 10ac, 25ac, and 14dn

Across
9 HALITOSIS Personal unpleasantness? Lois has it, unfortunately (9)
  (Lois has it)*
10 STOOD Tried to get a seat, but unsuccessfully! (5)
  double def: STOOD for a parliamentary seat; or STOOD up instead of taking a seat
11 INCOMES Revenues from company involved in various mines (7)
  CO[mpany] inside (mines)*
12 LOOK OUT Guard gives a warning (4,3)
  LOOKOUT=”Guard”
13 GEARS They’re often engaged in the movement of transport (5)
  cryptic definition
14 SENTINELS Guards ordered to go in the Spanish spearhead (9)
  SENT IN=”ordered to go in” plus EL=”the [in] Spanish”, plus the head of S[pear]
16 NEEDLE AND THREAD Primary requisites for a sewer (6,3,6)
  cryptic definition – “sewer”=’someone who sews”
19 SEPARATES Parts of a lady’s wardrobe? (9)
  =”Parts”=’divides’; also =items of clothing forming separate parts of an outfit
21 VEERS Newly written verse takes a new direction (5)
  (verse)*
22 EARSHOT Heart so affected sounds can be heard within it (7)
  (Heart so)*
23 OPEN AIR New opera in a natural setting (4,3)
  (opera in)*
24 SCOUR Initially, surgeons can’t operate until really clean (5)
  Initials of S[urgeons] C[an’t] O[perate] U[ntil] R[eally]
25 WOEBEGONE Miserable? Cheer up! (9)
  ‘WOE, BE GONE!’ might =”Cheer up!”
Down
1 CHAIN GANGS Their members were bound to work under strict supervision (5,5)
  cryptic definition
2 BLOCKADE Ordered to get round secure barrier (8)
  BADE=”Ordered”, around LOCK=”secure”
3 STUMPS Used in cricket matches that may be drawn (6)
  cryptic definition – referring to the STUMPS being “drawn” from the ground at the end of play in cricket,  rather than the matches being drawn
4 ISIS Oxford banker (4)
  cryptic definition – an Oxford river, or something that has banks, so “banker”
5 ESPLANADES Fresh sand, please, for use by the sea (10)
  (sand please)*
6 ASTONISH Cause amazement, seeing a holy man on his mobile (8)
  A S[ain]T=”a holy man”, plus (on his)*
7 MOROSE Romeo’s disposition is melancholic (6)
  (Romeo’s)*
8 EDIT Prepare to put out with the rising tide (4)
  “tide” reversed/”rising”
14 SHANTY TOWN Sea air won’t change a place of poor housing (6,4)
  SHANTY=”Sea air” as in a ‘sea song’, plus (won’t)*
15 SIDE STREET Not the main way to transform desert site (4,6)
  (desert site)*
17 LURCHERS Unsteady dogs? (8)
  double/cryptic definition – LURCHERS are “Unsteady”, and LURCHERS are a cross of greyhounds with another breed
18 ELEVATOR Resort to a lever to provide lift (8)
  (to a lever)*
20 PARDON Excuse to knock up an academic (6)
  RAP=”knock”, reversed/”up”; plus DON=”academic”
21 VIEWED Watched United compete to get on top (6)
  WED=”United”, with VIE=”compete” above it/”on top”
22 EASY It’s not difficult to name a novel midshipman (4)
  double definition – the second half refers to the novel Mr Midshipman EASY [wiki]
23 OYEZ Warning that a man is about to cry (4)
  cryptic definition – Warning that a town crier is about to make an address

40 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26,795 by Rufus”

  2. Thanks Rufus and manehi
    Almost a complete write-in, but a failure for me, in fact, as I wrote in an unparsed OMEN for 23d. I liked WOEBEGONE, SHANTY TOWN (“sea air”!) and VIEWED.

  4. A very quick solve even by Rufus standards. WOEBEGONE was last in and took a couple of minutes, the rest were mostly write-ins. All quite enjoyable, no major niggles, but has a river ever been described as a banker anywhere outside crosswordland?

    Thanks to Rufus and manehi

  5. Of the 26 appearances of ISIS in the Guardian archive, Rufus is responsible for 8 of them. I prefer “A course at Oxford” (26575).

  7. Thank you, manehi.

    In the excellent spectrum of difficulty that the Guardian crossword affords, this was perhaps nearer to the 22d end. Some such as NEEDLE AND THREAD being barely cryptic and left one thinking that Rufus had raided the Quiptic larder.

    Enjoyed ASTONISH & WOEBEGONE. Anyone remember Garrison Kiellor’s wonderful tales of the eponymous lake on the radio?

    Dithered over OMEN before settling on OYEZ.

    Gentle start…nice week, all.

  8. [William @7
    I was listening to him reading “Flag day” while driving home once. I had to stop and wait until the tears of laughter had stopped running down by face after hearing the denoument!]

  9. Yes, at the easy end of the Rufus spectrum, but fun nonetheless. It took me a long time to get SEPARATES (a clever, typically Rufusian clue). Other favourites were WOEBEGONE and SHANTY TOWN. Thanks to R and m.

  10. OYEZ / WOEBEGONE took almost as long as the rest of the puzzle put together, but that was still moments. No problem having a little accessibility from time to time however.

  12. Thanks Rufus & manehi.

    Fairly straightforward; I did think of omen but realised it wouldn’t work. Like Trailman, OYEZ and WOEBEGONE were the LOI. The latter and SHANTY TOWN were the two I liked the best.

  13. muffin @8 I heard that episode, too! Wonderful. Was it Mrs Quidgeley who was the last one to see the flag?

    Just looked up where in Minnesota that fine town is and realised that it is spelled Wobegon not Woebegone as I had imagined.

  14. Fun today.Loved 25a but failed just this one despite every other letter.
    Recently one correspondent stated that all clues should be free standing and not dependent on other lights. 16a shows he was in error. I put cotton before another light turned it into thread. I reckon my first answer would have also satisfied the clue
    Don

  15. Thanks Rufus and manehi.

    I had forgotten the novel Mr Midshipman EASY, so failed to fully parse 22d. OYEZ and WOEBEGONE were my last in. I did like them, along with SEPARATES, BLOCKADE, SHANTY TOWN and LURCHERS.

  16. Thanks Rufus and manehi

    Book me as another who had OMEN … couldn’t parse it … and went against all better judgement to try harder and get an alternative answer – dunno yet whether I would have found OYEZ which I had not heard of. That’s two in a row now – he caught me up with his last Dante (in FT) that I did as well !

    A lot of clever and subtle cryptic definitions here with few better than STOOD.

    NEEDLE AND THREAD would have to be the easiest 15-letter answers that I have come across.

  17. Mostly a write in but I got stuck on OYEZ. I knew that OMEN was wrong but I became fixated on it. It took longer than the rest of the puzzle to get the correct answer. I suspect this was a trap for the unwary
    Well done Rufus.

  19. Muffin and William — “A Prairie Home Companion” with its tales of Lake Wobegon is still on the air, though Garrison Kiellor is in his final year, then to pass the show on to a new host. I didn’t hear the “Flag Day” episode, unfortunately, though I can recommend “Bruno the Fishing Dog.” You can’t find Lake Wobegon on any map of Minnesota, which Garrison Kiellor explains with a tale of two surveying crews in the early nineteenth century who had some complicated mishap I can’t recall.

  20. Thanks all
    Yes pretty easy but without any further thought I wrote in number one needle (primary!) Which needed a little adjustment!

  21. I went some way to parsing OVER for 23d as a warning cry that “this is the end of my wireless transmission to you and a return transmission (about) is expected”.

  22. You know what you get with a Rufus! Once again, I found it rather easy, but it is an almost perfect example of the ‘Rufus type’ and I enjoyed it. My only gripe is the give-away pointer ‘tide’ in the clue for 8D (EDIT).

    I counted 4 double definitions and 8 cryptic definitions, the dd count possibly being less than usual for a Rufus. As usual though the answers were unique in themselves (which I wouldn’t normally mention, but recently an unintended duplicate cropped up in a Rufus puzzle that was much discussed).

    Many thanks Rufus and manehi.

  23. Thanks to Rufus and manehi. I am another who started with “omen” (but did get OYEZ) and also started with “press” rather than CHAIN GANG, but did get through quickly. For once to my surprise I got a cricket term (STUMP) at the first go. As always, I enjoyed this Rufus puzzle.

  26. Thanks to Rufus. For a relative newcomer this was great fun. I now look forward to getting Monday’s Guardian

  27. William @25
    Thanks for that, but that wasn’t exactly the same story I heard. The denoument I was thinking of was one year they placed a large mirror at the top of the building, but as people looked up to see the reflection of the living flag, “the effect was lost”.

  29. Thanks Rufus. Brilliant start to the week. We couldn’t quite parse sewers as we kept reading it as sewers, we were up to our knees in it. 16 ac a definite favourite.

  30. Very easy even for a Rufus.

    My last two in were also OYEZ and WOEBEGONE.

    I personally don’t see how WOEBEGONE = CHEER UP. (It seems pretty weak to me as it can’t really work as an imperative!) Like everyone else I didn’t really question it as it’s Rufus 😉

    Thanks to manehi and Rufus

  31. Brendan (not that one)

    (I personally don’t see how WOEBEGONE = CHEER UP. (It seems pretty weak to me as it can’t really work as an imperative!))

    Oh yes it can! Woe: Be gone!

  32. Thank you to Rufus for an enjoyable solve and a sense of satisfaction. I am in line with others with WOEBEGONE and OYEZ as needing more thought and last ones in. I liked the notion of telling WOE to BE GONE. We don’t have a lot of town criers in Australia but the ones who I know of are male so I think “a man” in 23 down is fine (even though I do believe in job equality). Thank you to Manehi for clarifying/confirming some answers. I had not heard of the novel EASY (22 down) and have not been to Oxford so did not know if the name of the river was correct. But I like the plays on words that I am starting to understand (it has taken me a while) as in “banker” and “sewer” (16 across).

  33. cholecyst @31

    oh no it can’t 🙂

    Woe, be gone is obviously an imperative but not an imperative that means “cheer up”. For instance, who is being addresed and what are they being told to do?

  34. I thought that OYEZ was an instruction rather than a warning (it’s Old French for “hear”) but I too couldn’t parse OMEN and it doesn’t pay to be pedantic so in it went. I particularly liked “sea air” for SHANTY. I can only hope that a night’s sleep will rid me of the earworm.

  35. I think it’s poetic, Brendan (@33), or mock-poetic. You are addressing the sadness inside a person. Your instruction is “Sadness, go away!” or, poetically, “Woe, be gone!” or, prosaically to the person, “Cheer up!”

  37. Alan @35

    Yes I realise the phrase is “poetic”. But it must address the “woe” and therefore doesn’t really equate to “cheer up”

  39. Woebegone is perfectly fine by me. I too fell for the Omen. I liked Earshot, Astonish and Shanty but thought 16 and 19 were both barely cryptic.

  40. Thanks manehi and Rufus.

    Raced through this but – being Rufus – only pencilled in CHAIN GANGS and GEARS until I had the crossers (how many times has he caught me out?)

    Really liked SHANTY TOWN.

    Got WOEBEGONE straight in.

    And then the sting (in both senses) in the very last clue. Yep. I’m another mug that couldn’t see past OMEN.

    So he caught me with a sucker punch – but that’s one more reason to keep returning to this most prolific setter.

Comments are closed.