Guardian 26,120 by Rufus

by

Typical Rufus crossword of cryptic and double definitions to start the week.

Not much else to add but a welcome change of grid compared to the recent ones of his I’ve done.

Across
1 WITNESSES Sees sense maybe, within reason (9)
  SENSE* in WITS
6 ARCH Chief part of the foot (4)
  Double Definition
8 TURNOVER Pass on the takings (8)
  DD
9 TITIAN It returns more than once to an old master (6)
  2 x IT rev & AN
10 CHAINS Restrictive measures (6)
  Cryptic Definition
11 TRANSEPT A cross section of the church (8)
  CD
12 GLANCE Look for a key cutter (6)
  G (key) & LANCE
15 SHIPS LOG A maritime record? Yes, of course (5,3)
  CD
16 SUBTITLE Deaf people may appreciate blue tits flying around (8)
  [BLUE TITS]*
19 NICENE A number embracing church creed? (6)
  C.E. in NINE
21 ADORABLE It’s lovely wandering abroad with the French (8)
  ABROAD* & LE
22 SCARCE Having clear head in panic is unusual (6)
  C(lear) in SCARE
24 BIKINI Pacific island in which one may be found sunbathing (6)
  Double Def
25 ANGLESEY Island — where to fish by the sea, say? (8)
  ANGLE (to fish) & hom of SEA
26 TSAR Holy man turns to a king and emperor (4)
  S(ain)T rev & A R(ex)
27 HALF-TRUTH Vera or city? (4-5)
  Cryptic indication to either half of VERACITY
Down
1 WAUGH Novelist in conflict, we hear (5)
  Hom of WAR
2 TENSION One isn’t affected with stress (7)
  [ONE ISNT]*
3 ELVIS Presley lives again! (5)
  LIVES*
4 STRATUS Cloud starts lifting, admitting sun in the middle (7)
  (s)U(n) in STARTS*
5 SITUATION Job in which no one tense is given a rise (9)
  NO 1 TAUT IS all reversed
6 ARTISTS Dire Straits are recording ones (7)
  STRAITS* &lit I guess
7 CLAMPDOWN Vice has fallen with stringent suppression (9)
  CLAMP & DOWN
13 LAUNDRIES Under sail perhaps, they may tend to the sheets (9)
  [UNDER SAIL]*
14 ESTABLISH Found to be less habit-forming (9)
  [LESS HABIT]*
17 TERRIER Row about stray dog (7)
  ERR in TIER
18 EYEBALL Watch the dance in which one has a pupil (7)
  EYE & BALL
20 CHATEAU Large house where cat is given water in France (7)
  Cat and water in French
22 SIGHT Spectacle in which a bull appears? (5)
  I guess this is referring to a bulls-eye in the sights,
23 CZECH Soundly examine a European language (5)
  Sounds like CHECK

19 comments on “Guardian 26,120 by Rufus”

  1. Thanks Rufus and flashling
    Some amusing clues – SUBTITLE, HALF-TRUTH and LAUNDRIES in particular.
    I’ve only just seen the significance of the “of course” bit in 15ac (I was just about to ask for elucidation!)
    I’m not entirely happy with the definition for TRANSEPT – the cross shape of a church comprises the nave and the two transepts, and the area where they cross is called (unimaginatively) the “crossing”. A “transept” is thus not a cross-section.
    Actually, having written this, I’m going to disagree with myself – a transept is of course a “section of the cross shape”.

  2. Good, pleasant puzzle.

    Thanks Flashling; I didn’t get the SIGHT, but I think you are right about bulls-eye – nice clue.

    I also particularly enjoyed CLAMPDOWN, STRATUS, ESTABLISH and HALF-TRUTH, which took a while to find.

  3. Thanks Rufus & flashling.

    I think there’s also an element of DD in 10, as a chain is an imperial measure of length – 22 yards if memory serves.

    How usual is the device in 5 whereby you have to insert a synonym before reversing it and its surroundings? I don’t think I’ve seen it before. Or perhaps the clue was repharsed?

  4. Thanks flashling. A big thumbs-up from me today for Rufus. My favourite was HALF-TRUTH which almost defeated me, though in retrospect it seems obvious. The mark of a great clue.

    I think the new grid and the placing of the cryptic definitions is a great improvement over some we have had in the past. There are none of those “is it the right solution or not” questions where there are not enough crossing letters to be sure, or where several cryptic definitions have been placed in the same part of a puzzle. I got to enjoy the cryptic definitions rather than being frustrated by them. Thanks Rufus.

  5. A pretty straightforward Rufus I thought, but some nice clues. Most people seem to have liked 27a, but I’m not sure that a question mark makes up for a lack of definition. Having said that, if a clue leads to the solver finding the correct answer, I suppose one has to accept it as valid: it is, after all, a ‘clue’.

  6. Thanks flashling and Rufus

    Monday Rufus at his best – not particularly hard but lots of clever clues including some at first unlikely-seeming anagrams and an enjoyable light touch. My COD was 27a.

  7. Agree with Simon S about 10A – more than an element of DD.

    4D involves a reversal (“lifting”) of STARTS, not an anagram.

    27A was my last in. Haven’t seen this device before, but no objections.

    Thanks to Rufus and flashling.

  8. Thanks, flashling.

    I must say I enjoyed this, and the grid, today. 27ac – I wish Rufus would be more adventurous like this more often.

  9. I agree that this was a much more enjoyable solve than a lot of Rufus puzzles, and there were plenty of smiles along the way. The excellent HALF-TRUTH was my LOI.

  10. Thanks all
    No definition in 27, yes which is why I spent some time considering ‘hull truck’ and ‘check’, foolish solver!!

  11. Thanks to flashling for the blog.

    I agree with gwep@7: ‘starts’ is rising – not an anagram.

    I liked half-truth but it took me a while to spot it.

  12. Re starts reversed fair enough although i took lifting as being floating about hence anagram but both work for me.

  13. Nice one! Thanks Rufus and flashling. Got stuck for a while in NE having put – not totally unreasonably – CRACKDOWN for 7d. Thought 27ac was a great clue

  14. I thought this was a particularly elegant little Monday start-the-week puzzle with some nicely-constructed clues.

    Things like ADORABLE, with its ‘the French’ and ‘abroad’ and the solution also being a French word (so that, if you were wandering with the French, lovely would = ‘adorable’).

    Hmm…Doesn’t look quite so elegant when written out!

  15. Well this certainly was a brief interlude. I think they are taking the alleged Guardian “Easy Monday Policy” to its extremes. For the first, and hopefully last, time, I managed to complete every down clue on first reading!!!

    Nothing much to add except that I can’t see anything cryptic about 11A.

  16. 27 defeated me

    I was so certain (without reason) hull truck was the answer that I replaced czech with check
    Don

  17. Yes, incredibly easy Rufus today.

    No problem with 27ac. When Paul does things like this, nobody complains.

    Agree with gwep and chas about ‘starts’ being used as a reversal (rather than an anagram) in 4d.
    But talking about anagrams, where’s the indicator for ELVIS in 3d, certainly not “again!”? Or?

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