Guardian 26,535 by Imogen

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26535.

This puzzle fell into my Goldilocks zone – not too hard, and not too easy. Thanks Imogen – it was a pleasure to solve.

Across
1,27 SANDWICH MAN
Old advertiser‘s royal links, a lot cut short (8,3)

A charade of SANDWICH (‘royal links’; in the area of Sandwich, Kent are two famous golf courses, the Royal St George’s  and Prince’s) plus MAN[y] (‘a lot’) without its last letter (‘cut short’).
6 PUTSCH
School place found earlier, quite a coup (6)

A charade of PUT (‘place’) plus SCH (‘school’).
9,13 RIDING HABIT
Part of a county custom it may suit Imogen to hack (6,5)

A charade of RIDING (‘part of a county’, the county being Yorkshire, which used to be divided into three parts administratively – RIDING derives from thirding, which is why there was no South Riding) plus HABIT (‘custom’). To hack is to ride a horse.
10 BANDANNA
Square fruit, second one guy replaces (8)

BAN[a]NA (‘fruit’) with the middle A (‘second one’) replaced by DAN (‘guy’).
11 WAIT FOR IT
One way to get restaurant tip? I’m about to tell you (4,3,2)

Definition and literal interpretation.
13  
See 9
15 SECOND
Back in a moment (6)

Double definition.
17 FIDDLE
Idle part of field difficult to turn over (6)

A hidden (‘part of’) reversed (‘to turn over’) in ‘fiELD DIFficult’). ‘Idle’ as a verb.
18 SCOTCH
Frustrate check on tax (6)

A charade of SCOT (‘tax’) plus CH (‘check’, chess notation).
19 BONNET
10 head back for costume drama feature (6)

A reversal (‘back’) of TEN (’10’) plus NOB (‘head’).
21  
See 29
22 CORPUSCLE
College oddly calm with undergraduate finally in cell (9)

A charade of CORPUS (Christi, ‘college’ in Oxford or Cambridge) plus CL (”oddly CaLm’) plus E (‘undergraduatE finally’).
25 EDGEWISE
Advantage is seized by partners on the side (8)

A charade of EDGE (‘advantage’) plus an envelope (‘seized by’) of ‘is’ in W E (‘partners’ in bridge).
26 ENIGMA
Street guide not needed in new magazine puzzle (6)

An anagram (‘new’) of ‘mag[az]ine’ without (‘not needed’) AZ (‘street guide’).
28 FEISTY
Spirited, if small, yet insecure (6)

An anagram (‘insecure’) of ‘if’ plus S (‘small’) plus ‘yet’.
29,21 THE PENNY DROPS
I now understand effect of minor currency devaluation (3,5,5)

Definition and literal interpretation; the sound of a solved crossword.
Down
2 AMI
Would you count me as a friend? (3)

AM I? (‘would you count me as?’)
3  
See 8
4 IN GOOD NICK
Healthy policeman lucky to be working here? (2,4,4)

Definition and literal interpretation.
5 HUBRIS
Insolence I brush aside (6)

An anagram (‘aside’) of ‘I brush’.
6 PING
Metallic sound as thin piece of steel lands on surface of ground (4)

A charade of PIN (‘thin piece of steel’) plus G (‘surface of Ground’).
7 TEA GARDEN
Pull back, having eaten badly out here? (3,6)

An envelope (‘out’) of GARD, a reversal (‘back’) of DRAG (‘pull’) in TEAEN, a anagram (‘badly’) of ‘eaten’, with an extended definition.
8,3 CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Abstemious man meaning to construct scientific theory (11,5)

A charade of CONTINENT (‘abstemious’) plus AL (‘man’) plus DRIFT (‘meaning’).
12 ASSES BRIDGE
Not quite rate game a tricky proposition (but it is!) (5,6)

A charade of ASSES[s] (‘rate’) cut short (‘not quite’) plus BRIDGE (‘game’). The ASSES BRIDGE (pons asinorum) in Euclid is the theorem that an isosceles triangle, one with two sides equal, has equal angles on the third side; the term is also applied metaphorically to a problem which requires some understanding to resolve, hence the definition here.
14 MINOR PIECE
Bishop cooked food in small church (5,5)

An envelope (‘in’) of PIE (‘cooked food’) in MINOR (‘small’) plus CE (‘church’). ‘Bishop’ is a chess piece.
16 CROUPIERS
Our prices are shocking: we rake it in (9)

An anagram (‘shocking’) of ‘our prices’. Imogen seems to lean towards smooth surfaces, particularly here.
20 LOSE IT
Get mad alternative to using something? (4,2)

A reference to the maxim “use it or lose it”.
23 SWIPE
Steal and use card (5)

Double definition.
24 WIRY
Flexibly strong, one’s twisted round (4)

An envelope (’round’) of I (‘one’) in WRY (‘twisted’).
27  
See 1
completed grid

40 comments on “Guardian 26,535 by Imogen”

  1. Having entered ‘?I??? piece’ in 14d and ‘save it’ in 20d, kept staring at southeast corner forever…did not know bishop is minor piece. Thanks PeterO for the as always prompt blog. Otherwise a fun puzzle, thanks Imogen.

  2. I agree, pretty moderate, solved in 40 minutes.

    Not exactly a nina, but ‘second fiddle’ and ‘scotch bonnet’ appear right in the middle; just the setter having a little fun, I suppose. I looked, but didn’t see anything else…unless there is such a thing as a ‘riding bandana’.

  3. I had trouble in the NE, not helped by wanting 14d to be ‘chess piece’, not knowing the alternative spelling of ‘bandana’ and being slow onto TEA GARDEN. After this buffeting, I failed at 19a, even though I was alert to the numerical as well as the cross-referential possibilities of the clue.

    So more “Great, Huge Bear” than Goldilocks for me, but very good all the same.

  4. Thanks Imogen and PeterO
    I liked SANDWICH MAN and THE PENNY DROPS………………

    …………but a lot of this I found irritating. 9,13 what does “it may suit Imogen” contribute? The clue works just as well with these words deleted; similarly in 12d “but it is” can go. 26 A-Z is rather parochial – unless similarly named publications are produced in overseas cities? 2d no indication of French word. 5d HUBRIS doesn’t mean “insolence”.

    I had PALACE for a while for 6a – it works!

  5. I note that (unbelievably) Chambers does give “insolence” as the first meaning for “hubris”. It’s wrong again!

  6. Some great double definitions to rise a smile here.

    Muffin @4, a riding habit is female apparel, so surely you need some indicator that it is being worn by a woman. Not sure why a-z is parochial given there is one for just about every British town and city, a lot of clues are British-centric.

  7. AndyK @6
    ………..but Imogen is male! I don’t think it is necessary to indicate female apparel – for instance “supporter” for “bra” I’ve never seen as “female supporter”.

    A lot of Guardian solvers are American or Australian. Do they have A-Zs?

  8. Thank you Imogen & PeterO.

    Muffin @ 4 & 5: I had no problem with entering “hubris” for 5d. However, I do agree that “insolence” is not necessarily the first definition of the word.

  9. Agree with Muffin, and why is bishop a minor piece? Spent a long time trying to fit chess piece, huh! Thanks to both for enjoyable start to the day.

  11. muffin @ 7. I really don’t understand your objection here. A lot of Guardian cryptics contain clues with a more or less parochially British element. It’s a. British publication so, if I were an Australian or American solver, I imagine that I’d accept that as going with the territory. I’ve seen US puzzles which I can’t begin to solve because of the local knowledge required. AndyK has met your objection based on alleged London-centricity. I’d say that the A-Z is a pretty well-known publication, and I would go so far as to say that it is (or was once, before smartphone apps) iconic, such that a lot of overseas readers (and not just the anglophones) would be aware of it.

    I agree with you re hubris though. Shocked that Chambers gives ‘insolence’ as a definition at all, let alone as the first. And a nearer meaning of hubris would have worked just as well in the clue. And I too was mildly irritated by the frankly superfluous Imogen reference.

  12. I can’t speak for the States, but as far as I know Canada doesn’t have anything called an “A-Z”. We just refer to them by the generic “road maps”. I don’t really mind learning new British terms (I’ve learned many already, and I’ll just have to remember this one if it pops up again), but I found this puzzle to be a real slog. Too many clues where whole chunks of answers were just defined “as is” (MINOR, CONTINENT, BRIDGE, SANDWICH) don’t leave very many penny-dropping moments. Instead I was left with an overall is-that-it? feeling throughout the grid, after trying to pick apart the clue for *some* wordplay. It felt like I was working a Rufus with all the cryptic/double definitions. That being said, I will say I like the clue for TEA GARDEN, and, being a mathie, enjoyed learning the term ASSES’ BRIDGE, though, as implied, referring to BRIDGE as merely “game” seemed like a cop-out, with, as muffin@4 mentioned, “but it is” adding nothing to the clue except a seemingly desperate attempt at cleverness. This is all just my opinion, of course. If you enjoyed it, more power to you 🙂

  14. Thanks Imogen and PeterO.

    Most enjoyable. I entered FALLOW at 17a before spotting the hidden answer. SANDWICH MAN, ENIGMA, SWIPE and WIRY amongst others were good.

    Vinyl1 @2, the ASSES BRIDGE is an EDGEWISE ENIGMA, the SANDWICH was adopted by the Thais in 2014 as an anti coup / PUTSCH symbol and WIRY people are usually IN GOOD NICK…

  15. I quite enjoyed this puzzle. Interestingly the online OED has this as its first example of the use of HUBRIS in the English language “1884 Daily News 28 Oct. (Ware), Boys of good family, who have always been toadied, and never been checked, who are full of health and high spirits, develop what Academic slang knows as hubris, a kind of high-flown insolence”.

    I have no problem with the use of Imogen in the clue for RIDING HABIT because it is obviously supposed to be read as a girl’s name rather than the setter referring to himself.

  16. Andy B @15

    I agree with you on both counts. ‘Insolence’ pops up fairly regularly in definitions of HUBRIS, and the original HUBRIS was insolence towards the gods.
    I cannot think of any meaning of RIDING HABIT which would correspond to ‘hack’ alone, and the use of the female name reminds me of Boatman, who I believe chose his pseudonym to use in clues with ambiguity as to whether he meant himself or a generic boatman.

  17. I’ve always presumed Boatman has or at least crews a boat, in the same way that my monicker indicates a love of walking. He certainly uses his to good effect. Maybe at 9,13 Imogen is playing with the male/female ambiguity of the name.

    For a long time I assumed BANDANNA was wrong – too many Ns – and with an initial TING at 6d the NE was a problem. Never heard of ASSES BRIDGE either, despite having once taught maths, but at least the solution sprang clearly enough, to me at least.

    One of those rare occasions when I didn’t need the blank space below the puzzle for working out anagrams etc. Still, good workout.

  18. I struggled with this one but no complaints. All was made clear with PeterO’s explanation.

    As an Australian I agree with Rog @ 11. I have said before that attempting to solve the Guardian crossword is a cross that I have chosen to bear.

    I too wondered about the bishop being a minor piece until median @10 explained. Even after seeing the parsing my ignorant self would have said “but a pawn is a minor piece, surely a bishop is a “middle” piece, or perhaps appropriately a “median” piece.

  19. Sorry to be dense but can someone explain where the definition of “tea garden” is in 7d? How should we know that ‘here’ means tea garden? Would like to learn and understand. Thanks

  20. Enjoyed this – to me it was at the easier end of Imogen’s spectrum, but by no means trivial. Last in was MINOR PIECE – I needed FIDDLE to be sure of that. ASSES BRIDGE was new to me, and a nice PENNY DROP moment, also liked ENIGMA. Not sure I’d ever seen the variant spelling of BANDANNA before either.

    Thanks to Imogen and PeterO

  21. Steve @19, Peter O talks about an extended definition, so the second half of the clue refers to eating outside as well as being the cryptic bit. Easy once you the parsing is explained to you, didn’t get it at the time though.

  22. Kevin @ 18
    It’s just chess parlance.
    Pawns (being relatively insignificant) are never referred to as pieces.
    If you say that you’ve won a piece, it never means you’ve just won a pawn.

  23. I didn’t get along with this puzzle at all. To add some quibbling variations on a theme, I don’t see any purpose for “quite” in 6a, and 14d seems to be an unashamed definition by example. I liked the cheek of hiding ninas in plain sight though, which I never would have spotted. Thanks to vinyl1 @ 2 for pointing that one out.

  24. Pretty hard work for me, but just about finished it. Re HUBRIS – once the anagram was seen, it must be the solution. And I understood what Imogen was getting at in her RIDING HABIT. Favourites were CONTINENTAL DRIFT, FEISTY and AMI. Thanks to Imogen and PeterO.

  25. The A-Z maps: Well, we don’t have them here, and I don’t think I’ve used them when in Britain. (I’ve never been brave enough to drive in Britain, which may have something to do with that.) But I figured it out easily enough.

    “In good nick” is not part of my dialect, though (and I must admit that I still don’t understand the clue). But now I know the phrase for the next time.

  26. Well, well, well. People crabbing Chambers and nobody objecting? Imagine if I’d done it? There would have been hell to pay from the “dictionaries are holy writ brigade”!

    If I was going to nit pick anything it would be “ch” for “check”. I know “ch” is chess notation, having previously got as far as captaining a local team, but, it is so obsolete nowadays that it must surely rank as being seriously obscure? The sign for check has been ‘+’ for decades (and ‘++’ for double check).

    I know you guys haven’t missed me, but I regret to announce I’m still alive! I just haven’t been doing the xword early enough recently, everything has usually been said by the time I get here.

  28. mrpenney @25

    In good nick is an expression used to mean in a good condition and is usually used of things (the piano’s in good nick) or naturally batsmen in cricket (Clarke’s in good nick). A nick is also a slang term of a police station.

  29. Thanks, ulaca.

    And Derek @26: Ch. for check is also a standard abbreviation here for the document that Brits spell “cheque,” (for example, in a ledger to denote payment, as in “Pd. Ch.#2341”). So it’ll probably stay in the dictionary for some time, even if chess has moved on.

  30. I found this very difficult as I usually do with this setter and I came close to abandoning it. However it gradually came together. Rather surprised at the discussion of HUBRIS which was my FOI and I must agree with Peter O about the appropriateness of the clue. CORPUSCLE was LOI.
    Can’t say I enjoyed this much.

  31. I found this quite enjoyable. Just challenging enough to make it interesting but not as obscure as some of Imogen’s previous offerings.

    My only objection was to ch = check but having read above I now remember it’s use in chess notation! I’m so out of touch with chess that I don’t even recall the new “+” notation so CH is fine by me. 🙂

    Thanks to PeterO and Imogen

  32. Thanks all
    I usually struggle to complete Imogen. I managed this one although reluctant to enter minor piece, I am not a chess expert but is a bishop minor?
    Favourite was enigma.

  33. Thanks, Imogen and PeterO,

    Like Muffin @5,I was surprised that Chambers had insolence as the first definition of HUBRIS. My old Concise Oxford has ‘insolent pride’, which for me is, perhaps, somewhat nearer the mark.

    Otherwise I liked RIDING HABIT and SANDWICH MAN.

    Giovanna xx

  34. Not the easiest. Didn’t quite finish it but some witty clues.

    I thought 7dn had to be TEA GARDEN but was worried that BANDANNA was wrong. I shared Steve”s difficulty @19 and still don’t really get it.

  36. Jovis @34 and Steve @19

    Re 7d

    Pull back, having eaten badly out here?

    I assume you can see that TEA GARDEN is a reversal of DRAG (GARD) with an anagram of eaten around it. The definition is “here” which of course could be anywhere! Well in this case the here is a reference to the rest of the clue and is using the wordplay surface to further define the answer.

    So the somewhere is “somewhere one eats”. As PeterO says this is called an extended definition.

  37. BTNO@36

    It’s kind of you to take the trouble but sometimes I’m a bit thick at crosswords. Yes, I got the “eaten” and “drag” bits of the clue. It looks as if extended definitions will have to join reverse anagrams in my collection of blind spots.

    Thanks anyway!

  38. No problem Jovis. It’s probably my explanation which is at fault.

    Perhaps I should have said that the extended definition in this case is:

    having eaten badly out here

    So “having eaten badly out” is doing double duty as part of the definition and part of the wordplay.

    By the way I would never describe anyone as being “thick at crosswords”. By definition they involve interpreting text in a very different way which is by no means obvious. The penny will drop eventually 😉

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