Guardian Cryptic 26,901 by Paul

by

The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26901.

I generally seem to find myself on Paul’s wavelength, but on this occasion I made rather slow progress, ending in the SW corner. I think this shows Paul’s craftsmanship at its best.

Across
1 HIT LIST People targeted success with outspoken composer (3,4)
A charade of HIT(‘success’) plus LIST, sounding like (‘outspoken’) LISZT (‘composer’)
5   See 22
9   See 4
10 MEANS TEST Financial assessment that’s most malicious, restricting good man (5,4)
An envelope (‘restricting’) of ST (saint, ‘good man’) in MEANEST (‘most malicious’).
11 TAIL-END CHARLIE I advance with fool past amateur soldiers, as a gunner (4-3,7)
A charade of TA (‘amateur soldiers’) plus ‘I’ plus LEND (‘advance’) plus CHARLIE (‘fool’), for a gunner in the rear of a military aircraft.
13 OBOE Old violin player, say, a member of the orchestra (4)
A charade of O (‘old’) plus BOE, sounding like (‘say’) BOW (‘violin player’).
14 CEREBRAL Intelligent British farmer finally feeding agricultural crop (8)
An envelope (‘feeding’) of B (‘British’) plus R (‘farmeR finally’) in CEREAL (‘agricultural crop’).
17 NITROGEN Having recalled iron in the end, I start to remember another metal element (8)
A reversal (‘having recalled’) of N (‘iroN in the end’) plus EGO (‘I’) plus R (‘start to Remember’) plus TIN (‘another metal’).
18 AMEN Some parliamentary conclusion by minister? (4)
A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘parliAMENtary’.
21 TREACLE PUDDING Shocking clanger, diet ultimately messed up — by this? (7,7)
An anagram (‘shocking’) of ‘clanger diet’ plus D (‘ultimately messeD‘) plus ‘up’, with an extended definition.
23 EMPHASISE Drive home I see as tricky, maintaining a measure of speed (9)
An envelope (‘maintaining’) of MPH (‘a measure of speed’) in EASISE, an anagram (‘tricky’) of ‘I see as’.
24 SITAR Flipping scallywag is a music maker (5)
A reversal (‘flipping’) of RAT (‘scallywag’) plus ‘is’.
25 MYSTERY Conundrum: drug with a title in report? (7)
Sounds like (‘in report’) MISTER E (‘drug with a title’).
26 SHANNON Silence soon enveloping northern river (7)
An envelope (‘enveloping’!) of N (‘the first or second of the three, ‘northern’) in SH (‘silence’) plus ANON (‘soon’).
Down
1 HAJJ Jack accompanying prophet on leaving, heading north for pilgrimage (4)
A reversal (‘heading north’ in a down light) of J (‘Jack’) plus J[on]AH (‘prophet’) minus the ON (‘on leaving’).
2 TARZAN OF THE APES Novel design of Nazareth among records (6,2,3,4)
An envelope (‘among’) of RZANOFTHEA, an anagram (‘design’) of ‘of Nazareth’ in TAPES (‘records’).
3 IDYLLS Beautiful compositions — fifty framed by clever princess, then put up (6)
A reversal (‘put up’ in a down light) of an envelope (‘framed by’) of L (Roman numeral, ‘fifty’) in SLY (‘clever’) plus DI (‘princess’).
4, 9 TOM AND JERRY Material inspiring country music player, scenes of domestic violence? (3,3,5)
An envelope (‘inspiring’) of OMAN (‘country’) plus DJ (‘music player’) in TERRY (‘material’).
5 THATCHER That Conservative woman (8)
A charade of ‘that’ plus C (‘Conservative’) plus HER (‘woman’), &lit. Surely that must have been done before!
6 RESTATED Piece of data in plant, confirmed (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of STAT (statistic, ‘piece of data’) in REED (‘plant’).
7 STELLA RIMINGTON Outstanding leader in intelligence, M, noting subterfuge? (6,9)
A charade of STELLAR (‘outstanding’) plus I (‘leader in Intelligence’) plus ‘M’ plus INGTON, an anagram (‘subterfuge’) of ‘noting’. As a former Director of MI5, Stella Rimington makes an &lit answer.
8 ON THE BLINK Initially, Khrushchev and Lenin both, unfortunately, failing (2,3,5)
An anagram (‘unfortunately’) of K (‘initially Khrushchev’) plus ‘Lenin both’.
12 DOWNSTREAM Eat seconds with squad, carrying last of dinner towards the mouth? (10)
An envelope (‘carrying’) of R (‘last of dinneR‘) in DOWN (‘eat’) plus S (‘seconds’) plus TEAM (squad’).
15 CONCLAVE Inner circle curving inward around line (8)
An envelope (around’) of L (‘line’) in CONCAVE (‘curving inward’).
16 CELERITY Expedition to see David Beckham, for example, with centre parting? (8)
A subtraction: CELE[b]RITY (‘David Beckham, for example’) minus its middle letter (‘with centre parting’).
19 RUBENS Happen to break rules as an artist (6)
An envelope (‘to break’) of BE (‘happen’) in RUNS (‘rules’).
20 ODESSA Port some passed on the wrong way (6)
A hidden (‘some’) reversed (‘the wrong way’) answer in ‘pASSED On’. The port, of course, should be passed to the left at the dinner table.
22, 5 across GRAN TURISMO Award author Leon second in racing car (4,7)
A charade of GRANT (‘award’) plus URIS (‘author Leon’) plus MO (‘second’).
completed grid

32 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26,901 by Paul”

  1. I also ended up doing the SW corner last. New words/people for me were SHANNON river, STELLA RIMINGTON, TAIL-END CHARLIE, CELERITY.

    I could not parse 17a, 25a.

    My favourites were TOM AND JERRY, ON THE BLINK, HIT LIST.

    Thank you PeterO and Paul.

  2. Thanks to Paul for an elegant puzzle, and peterO for the blog – I missed parsing TREACLE PUDDING and Mr E.

    In a vaguely associative way to the clueing of 4d, TOM AND GERRY was also the stage name of Simon and Garfunkel in their high school days, when they tried to sound like the Everly brothers. TOM and GERRY, the ever-scrapping cat and mouse duo, has been called out as one of the most violent cartoons, hence the definition.

  3. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    Isn’t it fortunate that Margaret Roberts married Denis Thatcher? otherwise the &lit in 5d would not work.

    Did anyone else try to fit Elijah into the parsing of 1d (somehow looking for a reason to remove Eli)? Needless to say I failed in the parsing of 1d, and 4d for that matter.

  4. Quite a challenge, but enjoyable nevertheless. Was stuck on the NW corner for ages after entering “hadj” without being able to parse it properly, then I was convinced that the “clever princess” at 3d was Ida. When I was finally out of the mess, 4d, 9ac became my favourite . Also liked 21ac – although I actually hate the stuff!

    Thank you Paul and PeterO.

  5. Thanks Peter. Cantered through this until there were just a few clues left, all of them excellent: the spy chief, Mr.E and NITROGEN, spotted earlier, parsed last of all. Excellent, Paul.

  6. Fantastic puzzle. Somewhere – I’d like to think in the breakfast rooom of the Ritz – I hope Stella Rimington is beaming over her chucky egg

  8. Quiet here this morning, have we run out of things to say about Paul? This was fairly routine and not particularly difficult, but entertaining enough.

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO

  9. Thanks to Paul and PeterO. Very enjoyable. As usual, I needed help with parsing (e.g., I missed the boe-bow in OBOE and the MYSTERY-Mister E), took a while before getting IDYLLS (my last in), and needed all the crossers before spotting NITROGEN.

  10. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    5D reminded me of the (urban myth) misreading of a newspaper billboard “THATCHER DEAD” as referring to a singer.

  11. SW was last for me too, or more specifically MYSTERY / CELERITY – I’d earlier had the latter in my list of discards, only as the penny dropped while I was in the act of hitting the match button on my solver app.

    Two women honoured with their very own &lit clue. I think it’s fair to say we can tell the rank order in which Paul would put them. Seems logical to me too.

  12. My wife would like to thank Paul for mentioning treacle pudding. As we are going back to England tomorrow, she will be seeking out a hostelry that can provide same with hot creamy custard. Nice steady lunchtime puzzle. Thanks to Paul.

  13. Enjoyable and challenging enough to be interesting. I was going to quibble about “scallywag” clueing RAT, as I think of a scallywag as just being mischievous whereas a rat is someone much nastier. However, a quick online dictionary check showed an alternative US usage for a white southerner who supported the north during the Civil War, seen as a traitor/rat by many fellow southerner. There are too many good clues for me to list favourites.

    Thanks, Paul and PeterO.

  14. Please would someone explain, re 19d, how `rules` equates with `runs` – some sporting allusion?
    It was my last in after a serious struggle – and if I’m missing the blindingly obvious, that’s my excuse.
    Most grateful for the parsing of 17 and @ Paul, for the fun of it all.

  17. Thanks Trailman – of course… rules/runs a country – why couldn’t I see that before I posted?

  19. This was not as much fun as yesterday, but it was a well-crafted puzzle with much to appreciate until near the end, when it might have been my own fatigue rather than any clunky clues on Paul’s part that made IDYLLS, TOM AND JERRY and SITAR a bit tough and chewy. I made it difficult for myself by not remembering the full name of the spy chief – so I had to build up that answer from —R–MINGTON and move upwards! I was pleased, though, to think of Leon Uris early on, having read Exodus some 30 or 40 years ago.

    I see that jennyk mentioned ‘rat’ meaning scallywag in 24A (SITAR). It seens it’s defensible after all, but I was disappointed by this.

    Thanks to Paul and PeterO.

  20. Great Paul, got stuck with 26A as LOI due to an incorrect 19D – I had ‘broken’ RULES + A giving SUREAL, without thinking of how to spell the word…

  21. A clever puzzle. A bit too clever for me because I have to admit I found this difficult and, yes,I found the SW the most difficult of all. But I finally prevailed and there was a lot to enjoy. I liked OBOE,TOM AND JERRY,CELERITY and THATCHER (FOI- and my fave of the day).
    Thanks Paul.

  22. Peter @21
    I meant to mention the THATCHER clue – it was my first in too. It was easy and obvious but so spot-on and witty. I wonder if it has been clued in this way before? (beery hiker?)

  23. I came to this feeling slightly apprehensive after a rather bruising encounter with Bonxie yesterday, but I needn’t have worried – Paul was his usual ingenious self, making us think and work hard for the solutions, but ultimately gettable.

    I liked the complementary devices of CEREAL with BR inserted and CELEBRITY with B omitted.

    Like JuneG I struggled with the NW corner at the end, not being familiar with the HAJJ spelling of the pilgrimage, and trying to make 9 DERBY or DIRTY!

    I’m surprised at the unfamiiarity with Stella Rimington – not only was she (I think) the first head of MI5 to be publicly identified, she made good use of her experience to write successful espionage novels after her retirement.

    Thanks to Paul and to Peter O for the blog

  24. Felt like a puzzle from the 1940s – tail-end charlie, treacle pudding, tarzan of the apes, gran turismo .
    Did I miss a theme today ?
    Come on Paul and crossword editor this is the 21st century.

  25. Been doing well for a week or so now but the SW brought that run to a shuddering halt. Looking at the answers,I cannot see why as they are well clued,as always with Paul:-(

  26. A real toughie from Paul for me; many unsolved in my grid, but have enjoyed reading the blog and the comments.

    Thanks to Paul, PeterO and all contributors.

    Did get a little satisfaction from solving SLY DI (3d IDYLLS) and 5d THATCHER.

  27. Mac Ruaraidh Ghais @23
    You said you were surprised at the unfamiiarity with Stella Rimington. So was I! You can only be referring to me, I think, where I said I couldn’t remember her full name. I have heard of her, of course, but when I only had the almost-complete surname and two letters of her first name the full name just wouldn’t come to me. That’s one of a few little things that made solving this day’s puzzle a bit like swimming through treacle (pudding) – rather unusual for me with a Paul puzzle.

  28. I know I’m a beginner but isn’t Gran Turismo a computer game (albeit about racing). The car is a Ford Gran Torino as per the film. It threw me anyway as Paul is usually very precise. Thanks anyway to the blog for helping me parse the ones I got right but couldn’t work out why – eg Treacle Pudding!

  29. Gordon Shropshire @28

    Welcome. It seems you are right to some extent. A GT car is by origin one designed for comfort and speed – for the Grand Tour; however, the term has been transferred to a kind of race car, which would account for the title of the series of video games that you mention, and would allow Paul’s definition.

  30. Very late to comment – though not (only) because I took so long over the puzzle – but felt this deserved a tip of the hat to JH. Living abroad for nearly 30 years is my excuse for putting Steele Remington rather than the correct bod. I can’t even use the excuse that I’d never heard of the lady. It just goes to show the power of popular culture, I guess, as I’ve never watched a minute of the series with Pierce Brosnan, I think it is.

  31. Thanks PeterO and Paul.

    Thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish.

    The two &lits at 5 and 7 down were terrific and all the surfaces were elegantly crafted.

    The most obscure element for me – URIS – was kindly signposted by including the author’s forename.

    Particularly liked the definition for TOM AND JERRY.

    Good fun.

  32. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    Found this very difficult to get a start, but as with many Pauls -the first clue fell, then another and finally the run started ! Still with this one, it was a slow run – STELLA RIMINGTON, TAIL-END CHARLIE and the alternative spelling of HAJJ were all new challenges for me. Particularly liked the linking of the James Bond ‘M’ to the former head of MI5.

    Thought that TOM AND JERRY was cleverly clued and the homophone for MYSTERY certainly raised a chuckle.

    Finished in the SW corner with CONCLAVE, NITROGEN (nicely misleading with the ‘metal element’) and CELERITY the last few in.

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