Guardian 26,542 by Tramp

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26542.

I came close to giving up on the wordplay for 16A CAMEO, but, after a slow start, all else went smoothly. Tramp has included several political references, including ‘rebel Nigel Farage’ (the United Kingdom Independence Party leader) in the long anagram.

 

Across
1 APOSTLE
A way to interrupt European supporter (7)

A charade of ‘a’ plus an envelope (‘to interrupt’) of ST (street, ‘way’) in POLE (‘European’).
5 WARM-UPS
Early entertainment in conflict — politicians turn inside (4-3)

An envelope (‘inside’) of U (‘turn’) in WAR (‘conflict’) plus MPS (‘politicians’).
10 MINI
Small leading politician, only half visible (4)

MINI[ster] (‘leading politician’) ‘only half visible’.
11  
See 27
12 MAKE DO
Cope with gain (Con) (4,2)

A charade of MAKE (‘gain’) plus DO (hoodwink, ‘con’).
13 INDIGENT
Running country? Hunt’s hospital department poor? (8)

A charade of IN (‘running country’ – of a political party elected) plus DIG (‘hunt’) plus ENT (ear, nose and throat, ‘hospital department’).
14 HYPNOTICS
Liberal phony and jerks — they could easily go under (9)

A charade of HYPNO, an anagram (‘liberal’) of ‘phony’ plus TICS (‘jerks’).
16 CAMEO
Leader missing, right: no, brief appearance? (5)

A subtraction CAME[r]O[n] (David, British Prime Minister, ‘leader’) without (‘missing’) R (‘right’) and N (‘no’).
17 STUMP
Tail-end wicket (5)

Double definition.
19 ECOSPHERE
Place that could support life peer — chose differently (9)

An anagram (‘differently’) of ‘peer chose’.
23 PICKS OUT
Chooses UKIP? Cost, horrendous (5,3)

An anagram (‘horrendous’) of ‘UKIP cost’.
24  
See 2
26  
See 27
27,26,11 FREE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Rebel Nigel Farage — iconic TV broadcast for talks about working conditions (4,10,10)

An anagram (‘broadcast’) of ‘rebel Nigel Farage iconic TV’.
28 STASHES
Loads of cuts (time for Left)? (7)

S[l]ASHES (‘cuts’) with the L (‘left’) replaced by (for’) T (‘time’).
29 ADDRESS
Speech in place (7)

Double definition.
Down
2,24 PRIMARY COLOUR
Or twice cut Plaid Cymru off — see red? (7,6)

An anagram (‘off’) of OR OR (‘or twice’) plus ‘Plai[d]’ without its last letter (‘cut’) plus ‘Cymru’. The question mark justifies the indication by example.
3 SNIPE
Party without indep­endence, English attack (5)

An envelope (‘without’) of I (‘independence’) in SNP (Scottish National ‘Party’) plus E (‘English’).
4 LAB COAT
Labour and Conservative mostly promise medical protection? (3,4)

A charade of LAB (‘Labour’) plus C (‘Conservative’) plus OAT[h] (‘promise’) cut short (‘mostly’).
6 AWARDS
Honours patients collectively as nurses (6)

An envelope (‘nurses’) of WARD (‘patients collectively’) in ‘as’.
7 MONOGRAPH
Worn-out porno mag with hard paper (9)

An anagram (‘worn-out’) of ‘porno mag’ plus H (‘hard’).
8 PENANCE
Little money for investment, an atonement? (7)

An envelope (‘for investment’) of ‘an’ in PENCE (‘little money’).
9 FRUIT COCKTAIL
Sweet talk of circuit training (5,8)

An anagram (‘training’) of ‘talk of circuit’. Nicely done.
15 NUMSKULLS
Idiots: they dig rows, say (9)

A charade of NUM (National Union of Mineworkers: ‘they dig’) plus SKULLS (‘rows, say’).
18 TRIP OUT
Stop working — mostly rubbish on strike (4,3)

A charade of TRIP[e] (‘rubbish’) cut short (‘mostly’) plus OUT (‘on strike’).
20 SUCCEED
Triumph to follow (7)

Double definition.
21 ROUSERS
They move in pants, when topless (7)

A subtraction: [t]ROUSERS (‘pants’) without its first letter (‘when topless’).
22 DOUCHE
Party and union check online stream (6)

A charade of DO (‘party’) plus U (‘union’) plus CH (‘check’) plus E (‘online’).
25 LIFER
One with serious conviction in centre, filling up (5)

A hidden (‘in’) reversed (‘up’) answer in ‘centRE FILling’.

69 comments on “Guardian 26,542 by Tramp”

  1. Thanks PeterO and Tramp. Guessed 10a as Mini after vainly trying to put in Mili (band). While looking for Sturgeon forgot SNP so 3d was not completed. In addition to party and leaders, there is stump address (speech). Do warm-ups include speeches by minor leaders while waiting for a major politician to show up?

  2. Took a moment to find a way in, but was well worth waiting for. Some lovely clues as ever with Tramp – I particularly liked AWARDS, gain (Con) = MAKE DO, and the FRUIT COCKTAIL.

    Many thanks to both.

  3. Thanks Tramp and PeterO

    I didn’t enjoy this at all. To start with, the theme is something I am trying to ignore as far as possible (and it lacks fairness – where were the Greens?), then several of the surfaces were poor (what on earth can 14 mean as a surface reading?).

    I don’t see how “Hunt’s” gives “dig” in 13, or what “as nurses” contributes to 6d.

    I failed to see the TRIP(e) in 18 or the NUM in 15; I did parse CAMEO, though. I gave up on trying to get the right letters in the anagram for PRIMARY COLOUR, as the answer was obvious enough (another political reference, though US – “Primary Colours” is a film about selecting a Presidential candidate).

    I did like PENANCE and FRUIT COCKTAIL.

  4. Thanks for parsing PRIMARY COLOUR (subtractions again – I miss them every time). Thanks to Tramp too – I enjoyed that.

  5. I see 6d now – I was taking “patients collectively” as WARDS rather than WARD (no reason that it shouldn’t be!)

  6. @muffin – isn’t 6d AS nurses WARD? Doesn’t work without them. I said “well, I suppose so” to a couple of the definitions – supporter=apostle? loads=stashes? – and we’ve had NUMSKULLS too recently for it not to be a write-in, but that’s not Tramp’s fault.

  7. Thanks Tramp and PeterO,

    Not following UK politics closely, I enjoyed this (but, like muffin, I missed the Greens).

    CAMEO was good, as were MINI, TRIP OUT, DOUCHE and FRUIT COCKTAIL.

    I do not really understand charades, I thought LAB COAT would have been underlined?

  9. Struggled through, though with too many huh’s and too few aha’a for comfort. Agree that hunt did not lead me to dig, and I’m sure I’m being thick but why is e online in 22d?

  10. Also unconvinced by HUNT = DIG. And similarly sidetracked by MILI(BAND) – I’d thought of MINI as an alternative but couldn’t think of any leading politicians to fit it!

  11. Parky @9
    I’m not convinced either, but it has come up a few times recently, It’s referring to E as in Email, Ecommerce etc., which is done “online”.
    Thanks gladys @6 – though as you’ll see @5, I had got there!

  12. Fairly hard work but got there apart from MAKE DO and ROUSERS for some reason. Particularly liked HYPNOTICS, FRUIT COCKTAIL and CAMEO. Many thanks to Tramp and PeterO. Looking forward to HH’s comments . . .

  13. Many thanks PeterO and Tramp for the broad sweep across the parliamentary spectrum.

    Don’t really have a problem with dig = hunt. “Dig/hunt through old records” for example. (the (‘s) is just a coupler for me). I agree that AWARDS doesn’t have the smoothest of surfaces but thought it was all just about there.

    I was more unsure with HYPNOTICS. I presume its just a plural noun referring to people who succumb to hypnosis relatively easily.

    gladys @6 (part 2) well put, how I felt exactly. I’d like to pinch your description and use it in future abbreviated to WISS. You’re right about NUMSKULLS, it was clued recently by Atë as “Fools students over mass reductions in population, we hear”

    Nice weekend, all.

  15. William @ 13
    I thought that “hypnotics” were sleep-inducing drugs, but Chambers does also give it as “people under hypnosis” (as well as “hypnotees”!)

  16. Thanks for blog PeterO.

    I wrote this before any TV debates were scheduled and Cameron was dodging a one-to-one debate with Miliband. The Greens were in the original clue for 19a but I had to rewrite it — I’m sorry I missed them out.

    14a is trying to paint a picture of “Nick Clegg (phony) and some other LibDems and, as a party, how they might go under after the election”: I think the surface makes sense. I’m at work and don’t have Colins to hand but I’m sure HYPNOTICS are people who can be easily hypnotised.

    6d WARD: AS nurses
    13a IN+(DIG has ENT): DIG = HUNT as in “dig around”.

    Neil

  17. HYPNOTICS make me laugh. 60 years ago on an ocean liner going from NZ to England there was a man who would put on an evening show where he hypnotised people. One evening it was the lift-boy’s turn, and ever after the boy passed out each time the man got in the lift: the man was forced to use the stairs.

  18. Thanks Tramp and PeterO. An excellent puzzle.

    I’m going to claim to have completed it despite putting in SWIPE for 3d – as in, to take a swipe at somebody, the party being the Socialist Workers’ Party. Though I would admit that SNIPE works better.

    My only real grumble was finding -A-E- at 16a, one of my bugbears in grids like this. Nice clue, though.

  19. @John Appleton – I had SWIPE too – undetectable because it isn’t a crosser, though the surface should have told me which party was involved.

  20. I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, and after last year’s referendum I thought the clue for SNIPE was particularly good, as was the thematic long anagram for 27, 26, 11.

  21. Cookie @7 and 8

    Indeed ‘medical protection’ should have been underlined in 4D; it is now. Thanks for pointing out the omission.

  23. Well some of the surfaces are not great I suppose, but I had no real technical problems here. A couple of gratuitous single-letter indicators (there are an infinite number in Chambers it seems), and I can’t see how STUMP = wicket, that does not work, but the puzzle is quite good. Generally it feels a bit flat, I don’t really have a great stand-out one from this. The FARAGE anagram is good, but spoiled by the flat definition part.

    HH

  24. Thanks, PeterO

    Typically ingenious puzzle from Tramp, with several of his characteristically tortuous clues. I’m afraid I gave up on 16a; there were just too many possibilities for _A_E_ .

    27,26,11 and 2,24 are clever – and, unusually for long and/or subtractive anagrams, I got them quite quickly – but the most unexpected anagram clue, and the standout for me, is 9d.

    I was surprised to discover that a HYPNOTIC can be a suggestible subject as well as a soporific substance, but 14a couldn’t be anything else and the dictionaries all concur.

  25. hedgehoggy @23

    “..and I can’t see how STUMP = wicket..”

    Does this mean you’ve neither played nor watched cricket at any time?

  26. EllisB @25, three stumps and a pair of bails make a wicket, so HH has a point.

    Clever stuff from Tramp today I thought. I can see the hunt = dig equivalence now though I couldn’t at the time. But there is still a month to go before the election and there would only be so many politically-themed crosswords that I could take.

  27. Thanks Tramp and PeterO

    I pretty much always enjoy Tramp’s puzzles, and this was no exception. The coverage of the election causes me to switch the radio off, but when the theme is more political references than politics per se their inclusion doesn’t cause me any grief.

    Trailman @ 26

    If there’s a side-on throw that causes a run out, I think a commentator could equally say ‘the ball hit the stump’ or ‘the ball hit the wicket’, so I think the equivalence is fair. And after all, both cricket and crosswords are ‘only a game’ so a little looseness is fine in my book [ducks and runs for cover].

  28. Thanks all
    I persisted with mili for 10ac ,otherwise I did complete it but found it quite difficult.
    I liked 15 down; last in was make do.

  31. A fine puzzle from Tramp.

    As a US solver, I didn’t find my ignorance of UK politics much hindrance, and having never watched cricket, I put in ‘stump’ with confidence.

    I did end up stuck on the ‘mini’/’snipe’ crossing for a while, before seeing the obvious. I was playing with ‘soc’ as a party, but ended up having to work through the alphabet and consider ‘siege’ and ‘slate’.

  32. @27 I do wish commenters would stop stretching credulity to make allowances for loose clueing. A stump is not a wicket and never will be even if viewed from the side.

  34. This took most of my allotted time-span but was all quite entertaining. Last in was STASHES – was trying to make TAIL OFF work for a while. Favourite was FREE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, which I solved from the fodder and a few crossers.

    Thanks to Tramp and PeterO

  35. stump = wicket was common parlance among children when I was first learning the game (so it could just about be be regarded as legitimate slang) but you can count me among those whose first thought was that three stumps (or a stumping) make a wicket…

  36. Stump for wicket wasn’t perfect for me, but within my tolerance of acceptibility. That saud, I’m not sure about the argument @27 on the subject – the ball has hit a stump, and it’s hit a wicket. If the ball hits my car door, one could say it’s hit the door or the car, but the door is not the car, merely part of it.

  37. I speak as a politics anorak so it should come as no surprise that I found this pretty easy and pretty enjoyable. My enjoyment was enhanced by listening to the Conservative campaign unravelling before my very ears. LOI was CAMEO which I guessed rather than parsed so I was glad of the blog.
    Thanks Tramp

  40. Technically, a wicket either (i) consists of 3 stumps and 2 bails, or (ii) means a batsman has been dismissed. However when the game is played using a children’s cricket set with 4 stumps, the wicket at the bowler’s end is a single stump, so there’s an argument there. Which is all pretty petty – it didn’t really bother me.

  41. Cricket can be played without bails in very windy weather, I bet the stumps in that situation are often referred to as the wicket.

  44. According to Chambers, under “wicket”, it includes the definition “;a stump;”. I knew I hadn’t made it up.

  45. Like John Appleton and gladys, I had SWIPE for 3dn. Can it be said to be any less correct than SNIPE merely because the surface fits the Scottish National Party better than the Socialist Workers’ Party? (This is a genuine question, not merely rhetorical).

  46. Stump and wicket can be the same thing. Cricket in the park is typically played with a single stump at one end and three stumps at the other. Both are wickets. Bails would be a luxury rarely seen.

  47. In view of later comments, especially Tramp@44, I think my comment@42 needs amending as follows:

    muffin@39: “stump” can equal “wicket”, but not because “stumps” = “wickets”. AFter all, “weeks” = “days”, but “week” does not equal “day”.

  48. Thanks to Tramp and PeterO (I found the parsing particularly helpful). I got “cameo” quickly thanks to “brief appearance” but had lots of trouble with 9d because “talk of” misdirected me away from the anagram (though all became clear when “cocktail” fell into place). Like others “snipe” was last in, though 1) thanks to the referendum even in the US we’ve heard a lot about SNP and 2)”sniper” has been much in the news. Would the “eco” in 9ac qualify as an inclusion of Green? A very enjoyable puzzle, even for one with no part in the forthcoming election. Do UK native speakers have an equivalent for the US phrasing (I associate it with the South): “My dog’s not in that fight”?

  49. This was fun. Like the other Americans, I managed it without much confusion. The only parsing that eluded me was NUMSKULL, not knowing of NUM. I did figure out CAMEO, but only after staring at it for a bit. It helped that by the time that one went in (my last), I was thoroughly on a British political wavelength, and was expecting the Prime Minister, at some point, to put in a…um, you know.

  50. Tramps @44 – my apologies for doubting.

    Rog @45: It’s clear enough what Tramp intended from the surface, but I paid no attention to the surface reading of the clue in this case. So often the surface misleads, and all we have is the definition and wordplay. In this case, it actually helps. But it was clear to me from the start that I was looking for a word for party, without (in either sense) I, ending in E to get a word meaning attack. Eventually I had S-I-E, confirming what I’d thought. The first suitable word that came was SWIPE, and it parsed, so I entered it.

    To me, I’ve solved that clue. I’ve worked out the way that the clue works, and searched by brains for an answer that fit it, and found one. The surface is immaterial – especially in a puzzle such as this, where thematic references in clues don’t always lead to thematic answers.

  52. John Appleton, Rog et al: swipe/snipe is an oversight on my part. If this were a Prize puzzle then both solutions would have to be accepted as valid.

  53. PeterO, hope the rat in your right ankle is not giving trouble … I guess the Indy crossword comes out the day before it is blogged here.

  55. Thanks Tramp for an enjoyabe puzzle: More write-ins from the definition than usual for me, and I needed PeterO’s most excellent blog to finish my extensive post-parsing.

    To add to the wicket/stump debate, perhaps we could think of stump as a verb, so stump would be a way to get a wicket.

    This might require a new clue type, a cousin of double definition, called defition/association, where we might entartain clues like ‘trap wicket = catch

    Any takers?

  56. My Collins (2007) declares that a stump is one of three items that form a wicket. My Chambers (1997) agrees. SOED also concurs. But Tramp escapes as, under wicket, Chambers indeed has ‘a stump’. Being proper dictionaries Collins and SOED don’t carry that definition, and I must admit when I saw it in the puzzle I was put on my guard, erm, as it were. Two legs please umpire.

    Nice work Tramp, good stuff, and it really felt topical despite what you’ve said about its (not it’s – just for JS that one) origins.

  57. Freddy: that doesn’t work. As far as I’m concerned stump can mean wicket as Chambers verifies and others have stated above.

  58. Thanks PeterO and Tramp. Some fine images conjoured up.

    I’ve noticed that I seem to solve Tramp’s puzzles differently to those of other compilers. Normally I get going in one corner and work my way round, but with Tramp I seem to be more haphazard, with the last few in generally being scattered across the grid. I think it’s because, for me, there are fewer clues that become write-ins with some crossing letters in place.

  59. Thanks tramp and Peter, pity about swipe / snipe having chosen the wrong one. Found this to be quite easy but the one for me was realising 9d was an anagram which I only saw once I’d entered the answer. Beautifully disguised.

  61. What Robi said.

    Stump and wicket are not the same thing, I’m afraid. But a minor nitpick in an excellent crossword, whose theme I enjoyed very much.

    Tramp’s crosswords get better and better. He’s still one of the comparatively new kids on the block, but I have the sense that he’s working hard on his puzzles, with enjoyable results. The boy will continue to do good, I’m sure.

    Thanks to S&B.

  62. I was a bit surprised by stump/wicket at the time, but can I thank you all for transporting me back to happy days in the Junior Colts, where we used to make do with a single stump at the bowler’s end? Seems somehow appropriate on the day we lost Richie Benaud.

  63. Everyone was so preoccupied with the stump discussion that you missed an (inadvertent) cricket triple pun @26

    “[ducks and runs for cover]”

  64. And just because he made a couple of appearances, I will say here you are my current favourite setter at the Grauniad, Tramp.

  65. I found this a bit “forced” to make the theme which wasn’t really a theme!

    I got FREE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING eventually even though I had no idea or even an inclination to know what it meant.

    I still don’t see why loads = stashes either but as nobody else has complained that must be me.

    A bit of a curate’s egg for me.

    However, as somebody who played cricket at quite a high level for many years I can confirm that a wicket is the same as a stump. (Perhaps it’s a northern thing?!)

    Thanks to PeterO and Tramp

  66. Cookie @33
    How amazingly observant of you!
    I often get accused of double posting by the machine, when nothing has appeared. I have found a minor change seems to unblock the system but sometimes with a double post;better than no post?

  67. I see Bringlow trolls me even when I’m not here.

    Obviously he doesn’t want us to forget his recent and well-considered clangers so he picks me up on typos – from the past – even when I’m not here.

    Brilliant own goal.

  68. Okay, so you’re not here, and you’re still not here in the next para. So mote it be, Swagperson: repetition can be a very effective technique. That’s repetition I’m talking about. Right here.

    Just post ’em up, these ‘recent clangers’, whichever you think they are, and I’ll be more than happy to deal with your concerns.

    On your side, just make sure, when you’re dealing with someone who sets regularly for three dailies, that you get your ducks in a row. Hey, why not have a look through the excellent blog for last week’s Indy Prize, for example, and see what you think of the clues. I’d really love to hear your opinions.

    Love, Bringlow (sic).

  69. Tramp @52: belated thanks, both for troubling to comment and for kindly allowing us SWIPE! I’m adding my voice to the chorus of approval, both of your crosswords (very much including this one), and of your appearances here.

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