Guardian Cryptic 26,906 by Picaroon

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Tough at the start, and enjoyable throughout – favourites 12ac, 1dn, 14dn and 16dn. Thanks Picaroon.

Across
1 TETRAGON Measure dresses and French cloth, showing figure (8)
=a four sided polygon. TON=”Measure” around/”dresses”: ET=”and [in] French”, plus RAG=”cloth”
5 STRAND Two ways around a northern desert (6)
=abandon=desert. ST[reet] and R[oa]D=”Two ways”, around A N[orthern]
9 AWAKENED Aroused — and with a week to cavort (8)
(and a week)*
10 ISSUED One’s taken to court and released (6)
I + ‘S=”One‘s“, plus SUED=”taken to court”
12 KLEPTOMANIA Urge to lift top, like a terribly round fellow (11)
(top like a)*, around MAN=”fellow”
15 LISZT Incline to listen to key virtuoso? (5)
=a virtuoso pianist. Sounds like ‘list’=”Incline to listen”
17 RENASCENT Coming back in baroque entrances (9)
(entrances)*
18 RECTORIES Stripping off, ruin party in church buildings (9)
[w]REC[k]=”Stripping off, ruin”, plus TORIES=”party”
19 AESOP Greek writer making comeback with the main work (5)
rev[SEA]=”making comeback with the main”, plus OP[us]=”work”
20 HIGH PROFILE Dossier on drug-addled maestro drawing attention (4,7)
HIGH=”drug-addled”, PRO=”maestro”, FILE=”Dossier”
24 ALEVIN One needs the wine abroad for a little fish (6)
=a young fish. A=”One”, plus LE VIN=”the wine” in French/”abroad”
25 HERACLES Counsel care home to accommodate retiring strongman (8)
Hidden/”home to” and reversed/”retiring”, in [Coun]SEL CARE H[ome]
26 SWANKY Broadcaster interrupted by white flash (6)
SKY=TV “Broadcaster”, around WAN=”white”
27 ASSASSIN Pompous pair not out, but one might take you out! (8)
ASS ASS=a pair of asses=”Pompous pair”, plus IN=”not out”
Down
1 TO A SKYLARK Request to plug play, with fun lines for flier (2,1,7)
=a poem by Shelley. ASK=”Request”, inside/”to plug”: TOY=”play” plus LARK=”fun”
2 TRAVEL SICK Affected by movement composer’s introduced to sign of approval (6-4)
RAVEL’S=”composer’s”, inside TICK=”sign of approval”
3 AVERT Turn away from state capital of Texas (5)
AVER=”state”, plus the capital letter of T[exas]
4 OPEN MARRIAGE Emperor again forged a loose alliance (4,8)
(Emperor again)*
6 TASMAN SEA A small isle’s in the drink, or one part of it (6,3)
=a part of the “drink” or seas. A S[mall] [Isle of] MAN, inside TEA=”drink”
7 ABUT Neighbour has an objection (4)
A BUT=”an objection”
8 DADA Pop art movement (4)
double definition: an informal term for father=”Pop”; =”art movement”
11 ON ONE’S UPPERS Penniless sailor eats not a single meal (2,4,6)
O[rdinary] S[eaman]=”sailor” around/”eats”: NONE=”not a single” plus SUPPER=”meal”
13 VERSAILLES French town’s housing monarch and heads of state assembled here? (10)
&lit – the palace of Louis XIV, and where the Treaty of Versailles was signed. VILLE’S=”French town’s”, around/”housing”: E[lizabeth] R[egina]=”monarch” and the heads of S[tate] A[ssembled]
14 STEPHENSON Order shop sent to stock cover of Elton’s Rocket Man (10)
[George oops, thanks Eileen] Robert Stephenson designed the Rocket locomotive [wiki]. (shop sent)* in a new Order, around/”to stock” E[lto]N
16 TOOTHPICK Table implement‘s not sharp enough, needing injection of power (9)
TOO THICK=”not sharp enough”, around P[ower]
21 OBAMA It’s zero degrees for the man at the top (5)
O=”zero”, plus B[achelor of] A[rts] and M[aster of] A[rts]=”degrees”
22 PASS Way to get through Fathers and Sons (4)
PAS=”Fathers”, plus S[ons]
23 VEGA Back away from place to see better star (4)
a star in the constellation Lyra. VEGA[s]=”place to see better [someone who bets]”, with its back taken away

28 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 26,906 by Picaroon”

  1. Thanks Picaroon and manehi

    I enjoyed this, though I didn’t parse VEGA. Favourites were ALEVIN (LOI) and then nicely-hidden HERACLES.

    I didn’t like “Pompous pair” for ASS ASS – why pompous? I know there’ a phrase “pompous ass”, but an ass isn’t necessarily pompous.

    To be hyper-pedantic, the ST isn’t “around” AN in STRAND; just the RD is.

  2. Thanks, manehi.

    Once again, I agree with your favourites – top one being the brilliant 14dn [it was actually George’s son Robert who designed the Rocket].

    ALEVIN was a new word but the wordplay was delightfully clear.

    muffin @1 I took STRD – two ways – as a unit, round A N.

    Many thanks to Picaroon for another highly enjoyable puzzle.

  3. Thank you Picaroon and manehi.

    I enjoyed this crossword, the top half went in quickly, but I struggled with the bottom half.

    HERACLES was really well hidden and VERSAILLES a lovely &lit.

    muffin @1, I assumed one might say “what an ASS” if one saw a “pompous” person, the clue worked for me.

  4. Enjoyable puzzle, with many favourites: TASMAN SEA, DADA, ON ONE’S UPPERS, VERSAILLES, KLEPTOMANIA, HIGH PROFILE, TOOTHPICK, TETRAGON (LOI).

    New for me were ALEVIN & STEPHENSON’s rocket locomotive (thank you google!)

    I could not parse 23d, 26a, 1d.

    Thanks Picaroon and manehi.

  5. 4dn Elton John released a song called ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ in 2001. Not that I’m suggesting any link at all with the brilliant 14dn. Or with anything else.

  8. Thanks manehi and Picaroon for an enjoyable Xword.

    The only one I couldn’t explain today was VEGA. It isn’t only a star in Lyra but its brightest, and one of the brightest in the northern hemisphere.

  9. A very enjoyable lunchtime diversion thank you Picaroon.

    Lots to enjoy but I think my top favourite is 1d.

    Thanks to manehi too.

  10. Very enjoyable – thank you. But did anyone else feel white was a bit of a stretch for wan?

  11. For a while, I was going to give up, so little did I get on first pass, then second… But with Picaroon, you absolutely must hang in there, to that moment when your wavelength gels with his, then all the doubt is totally worthwhile.

    The NE corner foothold slowly spread down the rest of the E side, and with solutions like VERSAILLES and STEPHENSON I was on a roll. Picaroon is very good at hiding the definitions – ‘lines for flyer’ and so on. Winkling those out is half the fun.

  12. This is an excellent puzzle – it’s good to see Picaroon at his best. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and, as I’ve said before of this setter, I could rely on the quality of his clues to get the answers – ‘all’ I had to do was to read them in the right way! I have too many favourites to list.

    Thanks to Picaroon and manehi.

  13. Another fine puzzle, as Picaroon always seems to produce. Annoyingly I couldn’t deduce ALEVIN from wordplay and crossers – was trying to find 4 letters to put inside AN and didn’t consider the French article. That was the only unfamiliar solution. Ticked RECTORIES, HERACLES, VERSAILLES, STEPHENSON and OBAMA

    Thanks to manehi and Picaroon

  14. Thank you, manehi, really enjoyed this.

    Picaroon is steadily becoming one of those setters whose name on a grid makes me smile in advance, where some others make me wince in anticipation.

    TOOTHPICK made be laugh out loud and also enjoyed TRAVEL SICK & HERACLES.

    Failed to parse VEGA and TASMAN SEA and the only clue I’m not over-keen on was RECTORIES where one is required to think of a synonym for ruin and then strip it.

    Only a very tiny fly in an otherwise excellent pot of ointment.

    Many thanks to the pirate and nice week, all.

  15. Very enjoyable. I liked 13 and 14 the most. 1D gave me all sorts of problems, as I was convinced “lines” was part of the wordplay and would end up as RY at the end.
    I had a minor niggle with 22. I thought S = SON (singular). So, perhaps “Way to get through Father and Sons (4)” would be better.
    Great fun. Thanks, Picaroon and manehi.

  16. Thanks to Picaroon and manehi. I had my usual trouble parsing with HIGH PROFILE, ALEVIN, TRAVEL SICK, and VEGA (last in) and had to guess at STEPHENSON but did manage to finish. A good challenge.

  17. OBAMA is becoming a bit lazy isn’t it? The rest of this was pretty good though. I liked LISZT,TOOTHPICK and SWANKY when I finally got it. ALEVIN was new to me and it took me ages to parse VEGA- excellent once I did.
    Thanks Picaroon.

  18. Peter @17 – you are right – OBAMA has now been clued 10 times in the Guardian (not surprising because it has nice crossers) and these two were very similar:

    Araucaria 25640: Zero degrees in the hot seat? (5)
    Paul 26582: He’ll be leaving home next year with no degrees (5)

    there was also this one:
    Paul 24627: On securing a number of degrees, one has a political obsession (10)

    So perhaps I shouldn’t have liked that one, but that doesn’t detract from the rest

  20. Challenging and very enjoyable. I was stuck for a long time on the SW and NE corners, but the SW fell after I eventually got PASS and then dredged ALEVIN out of somewhere in the depths of my memory. I had thought “white” was going to be W, so I was scratching my head wondering why “broadcaster” was SANKY until the penny finally dropped. I also spent a while trying to parse “Hercules” for 25a before I spotted the hidden reversal.

    Thanks, Picaroon and manehi.

  21. Very enjoyable. Vegas as a place to see someone betting was very clever (and beyond me so thanks to manehi). Only real quibble was with PRO in 20a. To me a maestro has to be significantly better than a regular pro.

  22. I echo the praise. I shared phitonelly’s reservations about S for sons plural, so didn’t have the start of 24ac. I looked up ACEVIN and OneLook suggested the right answer – great new word.
    We see Vega a lot I think, and I originally was thinking along the lines of ‘bookies’ or ‘races’ as a ‘place to see better’.
    Thanks manehi and Picaroon.

  23. Nothing wrong with fathers (PAS) and sons (S).

    To have ‘sons = SS’ would be very confusing, I think, given the standard abbrevs, whereof either sons or son = S.

  24. Thanks Picaroon and manehi

    Always interesting and enjoyable puzzles from this fellow … and no exception here !! Failed at 23 though by writing in a not totally parsed BETA (as the second brightest star in a constellation) – but should’ve known better !!!

    VERSAILLES was my favourite in a large selection of very good clues !

    Finished in the SW with the two shorties – PASS and BETA (oops VEGA) .

  26. I didn’t like 22D, and kept trying to find a better fit than ‘PASS’ . Unlike Paul@23 I see nothing confusing about saying sons should have been ‘ss’. Is ‘ff’ for fellows confusing? And ‘f’ for fellows is just wrong. Can ‘d’ be daughters?
    Mind you, ‘r’ can be run or runs, but that’s a cricket scoring reference, perhaps ‘s’ for son or sons is some genealogy thing I’m not aware of.

  27. Thanks manehi and Picaroon.

    Not as challenging or as enjoyable as some recent offerings from this setter but fun all the same.

    I failed to fully parse RECTORIES or VERSAILLES but that’s more to do with me than the quality of the setting.

    I did at least get VEGA.

    No standout clues but then I’m old and jaded!

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