Guardian Cryptic N 26,117 by Paul

by

Until the Guardian gets its act together, the puzzle may be found only in its PDF form, at http://static.guim.co.uk/crosswords/pdfs/gdn.cryptic.20131127.pdf. Sorry, wrong link,; but it should have read …20131128.pdf; but as of noon GMT, the puzzle is available also in its normal interactive form at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26117. Again, apologies – it was getting rather late when I finally got to writing up the preamble.

Without the usual versions of the puzzle available, the software that I usually use to assemble the blog does not work, and I had to put it together by hand. Happily, the puzzle itself I found not too difficult, which gave me time for the extra work.

Across
1. Plant containing plant fuel (4,3)
COAL GAS An envelope (‘containing’) of ALGA (‘plant’, the second, loosely used) in COS (lettuce, ‘plant’, the first).
5. Novel instrument ends in celesta (7)
REBECCA A charade of REBEC (‘instrument’) plus CA (ends in CelestA‘).
9. M. Ali’s conversion – was to this? (5)
ISLAM An anagram (‘conversion’) of ‘M. Ali’s’, with an extended definition.
10. See 22
– See 22
11. All may see the point, nothing to accomplish with unknown maverick (10)
UNORTHODOX A charade of U (film rating, ‘all may see’) plus NORTH (‘the point’) plus O (‘nothing’) plus DO (‘accomplish’) plus X (‘unknown’).
12. Some ship in port (4)
HULL Double definition.
14. Kinky man with ten elves in bondage (11)
ENSLAVEMENT An anagram (‘kinky’) of ‘man’ plus ‘ten elves’.
16. See 1 down
– See 1 down
21. Cooll without water etc. (4)
NEAT Double definition.
22,10. 10 usually handled carelessly (3,7,4,6)
ALL FINGERS AND THUMBS Yes, if I count (on my fingers, of course) ALL my FINGERS AND THUMBS, the sum comes to 10.
25. Expert waiting for someone prostrate in the trenches of Northern France (9)
SOMMELIER A charade of SOMME (First World War battle, ‘the trenches of Northern France’) LIER (‘someone prostrate’).
26. Body’s virtual middle (approximately) (5)
TORSO A charade of T (‘virTual middle’) plus OR SO (‘approximately’), with an extended definition.
27. Antipodean port‘s riot on the beach? (7)
DUNEDIN A charade of DUNE (‘beach’) plus DIN (‘riot’).
28. Following positive principle, I’m out of time rounding double bend, as a long distance runner (7)
YANGTZE An envelope (’rounding’) of Z (‘double bend’) in YANG (‘positive principle’) plus TE (‘TimE‘ with ‘I’m out’), with a cryptic definition.
…
Down
1,18. Backing release from prison, cue ugliest extremists, doubly stir crasy (5,11)
COITUS INTERRUPTUS An anagram (‘crazy’) of ‘prison, cue’ plus UT UT (‘UgliesT extremists, doubly’) plus ‘stir’, with another surprisingly innocuous cryptic definition.
2,24,20. Song C, then _ for spice? (3,3,4,2,4)
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE Put C before LOVE to get CLOVE (‘spice’).
3. Article supporting a crossword setter in bloody competitive strategy (4,6)
GAME THEORY An envelope (‘in’) of ‘a’ plus ME (‘crossword setter’) plus THE (‘article’) in GORY (‘bloody’).
4. Hat has shifted right up (5)
SHAKO A charade of SHA, an anagram (‘shifted’) of ‘has’ plus KO, a reversal (‘up’ in a down light) of OK (‘right’).
5. Transmitter taking so long to receive mother in outskirts of Rabat (5,4)
RADIO MAST A double envelope (‘to receive’ and ‘in’) of MA (‘mother’) in ADIOS (‘so long’) in RT (‘outskirts of RabaT‘).
7. Visitor about to enter data source (8)
COMPUTER An envelope (‘about’) of PUT (‘to enter’) in COMER (‘visitor’).
8. Sheer muscles overcoming minstrel’s invocation ((8)
ABSOLUTE A charade of ABS (‘muscle’) plus O LUTE (‘minstrel’s invocation’).
13. Twitter feeding county working for old London borough (10)
KENSINGTON An envelope (‘feeding’) of SING (‘twitter’) in KENT (‘county’) plus ON (‘working’).
15. Extra large number one wrote in Swiss town (9)
SQUILLION An envelope (‘in’) of QUILL (‘one wrote’) in SION (‘Swiss town’).
15. Cyrano de Bergerac was playing God with Ibsen (3,5)
BIG NOSED An anagram (‘playing’) of ‘God’ plus ‘Ibsen’.
17. Flipping Vietnam War T-shirt claims no hero (5,3)
STRAW MAN A reversal (‘flipping’) of NAM (‘Vietnam’) plus ‘war’ plus TS (‘T-shirt’).
19. Middle east city where live wire cuts all borders off (6)
BEIRUT A charade of BE (‘live’) plus IR UT (‘wIRe cUTs’ without outside letters – ‘all borders off’).
20. See 2
– See 2
23. Extra large number? (5)
FORTY Double definition. the first being a man’s shirt size.
24. See 2
– See 2.

  2. Enjoyable solve with some nice twists and turns.

    Thanks PO. Can’t say I found it all that easy but I didn’t twig the song until quite late on.

    23d Since when has 40 been extra large? In the old money I take 43-44 in business shirts (happily no longer needed) – purely to avoid too tight a collar you understand.

  3. “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”

    In that case here’s an improved version – there was a typo in the original which was hardly worth correcting otherwise.

    Enjoyable solve with some nice twists and turns.

    Thanks PO. Cant say I found it all that easy but I didnt twig the song until quite late on.

    23d Since when has 40 been extra large? In the old money I take 43-44 in business shirts (happily no longer needed) purely to avoid having too tight a collar you understand.

  5. Thanks PeterO. Like JS, I found this quite tough – or maybe it’s just that I’m not used to having to get out pen and paper.

    STRAW MAN is just a reversed hidden. Isn’t it YANGTSE with an S? Can’t say I’m convinced about FORTY – maybe waist size? (Even then, seems very weak for Paul.)

  7. Hi thanks for the blog. I thought that this was unusually straightforward for a Paul.

    Just 1 suggestion. I thought that in 17d “Straw man” was contained/reversed in Viet NAM WARTS hirt (flipping & claims being the relevant indicators)

  8. Muffyword @6

    Yes, certainly. That was the last one I parsed – nice Penny Drop Moment. (As JS says above, 40 isn’t a large size for men – it’s quite small – and I’m not sure it exists for women, so I didn’t dare enter it until I finally thought of XL=40.)

  9. Good puzzle that I didn’t find particularly easy, like NeilW not being used to pencil and paper.

    Thanks PeterO; I didn’t much like FORTY until I saw Muffyword @6’s explanation. Doh! I thought at first it was 50 as a (L)arge number. 🙁 I’m not sure why Paul clued SION as a Swiss town rather than the more usual alternative. The ’10’ in 22/10 was quite a NEAT misdirection.

  12. I was going to say, in answer to NeilW, that it had to be YANGTZE to complete the pangram. Then I realised, just in time: no J. But I’m not aware that Yangtse is a permissible alternative spelling.

  13. Enjoyable stuff done in the good old pen-and-paper way on various trains between Ilford, Romford and Stratford. What an exciting life!

    One of Paul’s best features is his use of compound clues that link various parts of the grid, and this puzzle is stuffed full of them. One came early (guess which!), another in the middle, and unaccountably ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE was last in.

    And I like his ‘personalisation’ – ADIOS (surrounding) MA and O LUTE two prime examples.

  14. Thanks PeterO and Paul

    And thanks too to muffyword re ‘forty’.

    I quite enjoyed this and ticked 22,10, 26a, 28a, 8d and also 1,18.

    This last reminds me that if yesterday’s puzzle had been by Paul, I might have been tempted to look more than momentarily at an incorrect parsing of ‘stage directions’.

  17. Got there in the end. From the A in COAL GAS I guessed ALL and then the song title early on and whizzed through over half the crossword before I got stuck – and had to go out. Fortunately everything fell in to place on my return, except SHAKO, which I had firstly not heard of and then like a couple of others could not parse. Thanks PeterO for the explanations.
    Thanks too to Paul, despite several interruptions due to technical problems and a prior engagement, it was a very enjoyable solve.
    PS In many current biological classification systems algae are no longer included in the Plant Kingdom.

  18. Thanks, PeterO and Paul.

    I found it was seriously hard – the answers, especially to 1d, would not just come.

    I started at 4am, not being able to sleep, by sketching out my grid on paper; then another bash at 7am in the newspaper, and at 11am, and finally now at 5pm, but still couldn’t get the song!

    FORTY an excellent clue.

  19. Thanks, Paul and PeterO.

    The song didn’t leap out but I got it. 1,18 was craftily clued, I thought.
    I liked SQUILLION and Sion came to mind quickly as I recalled camping in an orchard there in student days and liking the place.

    Giovanna x

  20. I thought this was another enjoyable Paul puzzle, and I agree with those of you who thought it wasn’t one of his easier ones. I took a while to get going and ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE was my LOI.

    Count me as another who couldn’t see the wordplay for FORTY even though the answer was obvious enough.

    Thanks to Dave Ellison for the 1dn/18ac gag.

  21. What’s going on? That’s 3 tricksy little clues in one week! First Incessan?, then “Bullets” and now “Extra large number”. Must be a communist plot or something!

  22. Lovely puzzle – thanks Paul and Peter O. Penultimate in was YANGTZE – great clue, does it matter whether you spell it with Z or S, as both are “double bends”? – and last in was FORTY without really understanding why. Many thanks, Muffyword – brilliant clue!

  24. WOW!!! I found this incredibly hard! But the song was my penultimate entry so I think that ties in with others who found it hard!

    Didn’t help myself by entering EXTRAVAGANT for 14A early on! I saw it fitted with a couple of crossers and SOED says

    2 Varying widely from what is usual or proper; unusual, abnormal, strange; unbecoming, unsuitable. lMEe18.

    Thought I’d parse it later!!!

    Also FORTY is

    b A large indefinite number. e17.

    I wasn’t aware of either definition before this but it turns out neither are relevant 🙁

    Anyway I finally got there after 2 and a bit hours.

    Great fun though. Two cracking puzzles in a row. I already fear an “after the Lord Mayor’s show” moment for tomorrow.

    LOI “ENSLAVEMENT” (How apt!)

    Thanks to PeterO and Paul

  25. Well done Paul. Got all but SHAKO as I’d never heard of it, though I became convinced that it must have a J in it to complete the pangram!

    22, 10 and 23 raised a snigger, and 1d 18…

  26. Am I the only one who thought some definitions very weak, e.g in 1d, 23d, and especially 7d. A computer handles data, it is not a source of it.

    But I liked 6d as a scientist.

  28. Cryptocyclist –
    Respectfully, disagree with you about 1d; I was mindful of Shakespeare’s “beast with two backs” when interpreting “Backing release” – great definition, superb clue. IMHO one of the very best!

  29. Lol Dave E. @ 18!

    I see we have moved from addition and subtraction to multiplication. What’s next, the roots of quadratic equations?

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