Guardian 26,551 by Brummie

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26551.

It started off easily enough, but the last several clues took me quite a time to sort out.

Across
9 SINEW
Is working on novel, building literary muscle (5)

A charade of SI, an anagram (‘working’) of ‘is’ plus NEW (‘novel’).
10 PNEUMONIA
Virgin broadcast by Lisa without one complaint? (9)

A charade of PNEU, a homophone (‘broadcast’) of NEW (‘virgin’) plus an envelope (‘without’) of I (‘one’) in MONA (‘Lisa’).
11 ASCENDING
Going like a rocket, when fitted with carbon tip (9)

A charadeof AS (‘when’) plus C (‘carbon’) plus ENDING (‘tip’).
12 AMUCK
Africa’s principal northerly island in a frenzy (5)

A charade of A (‘Africa’s principal’) plus MUCK (‘northerly island’ in the Inner Hebrides).
13 DIEBACK
Chump acquires modern marketplace, almost leading to reversal of growth (7)

An envelope (‘acquires’) of EBA[y] (‘modern marketplace’) cut short (‘almost’) in DICK (‘chump’).
15  
See 20
17 ISSUE
Children‘s lives appeal (5)

A charade of IS (‘lives’) plus SUE (‘appeal’).
18  
See 20
20,18,15 DUTCH ELM DISEASE
Arboreal devastation of Middle East unleashed with such energy (5,3,7)

An anagram (‘unleashed’) of ‘middle east’ plus ‘such’ plus E (‘energy’).
22 GASTRIC
Rabbit illusion: disappearance of tail, of stomach (7)

A charade of GAS (‘rabbit’, to talk inconsequentially) plus TRIC[k] (‘illusion’) without its last letter (‘disappearance of tail’).
25 NARROWS
Channel indicator stuck between numerous limits (7)

An envelope (‘stuck between’) of ARROW (‘indicator’) in NS (‘NumerouS limits’).
26 FIRST
Tree on the way ahead (5)

A charade of FIR (‘tree’) plus ST (‘way’).
27 CLIPBOARD
Cutting panel  for High Street surveyor’s use? (9)

Double cryptic definition, more or less – the surveyor being someone who buttonholes you in the street for your opinions.
30 RANCOROUS
Bitter flowed cold and oyster starter turned sour (9)

A charade of RAN (‘flowed’) plus C (‘cold’) plus O (‘Oyster starter’) plus ROUS, an anagram (‘turned’) of ‘sour’.
31 RELIC
Barrel ice houses a thing of the past (5)

A hidden answer (‘houses’) in ‘barREL ICe’.
Down
1 OSSA
Greek mountain bones (4)

Double definition.
2 KNICKERS
Underwear that’s annoying (8)

Double definition, the second being a comic mild expletive.
3 SWAN
Physicist who had a real “light bulb” moment saw out Newton (4)

A charade of SWA, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘saw’ plus N (‘Newton’). Sir Joseph Wilson Swan developed an early electric light bulb.
4 SPRINKLE
Dotty Perkins comprehends Latin for “baptise” (8)

An envelope (‘comprehends’) of L (‘Latin’) on SPRINKE, an anagram (‘dotty’) of ‘perkins’.
5 SEA GOD
New age, ground-breaking spear carrier? (3,3)

An envelope (‘breaking’) of EAG, an anagram (‘new’) of ‘age’ in SOD (‘ground’). The definition must refer to Poseidon carrying a trident.
Poseidon with a trident
6 AMBASSADOR
Country representative dances, head to foot a party queen (10)

A charade of AMBASS, which is SAMBAS (‘dances’) with its first letter moved to the end (‘head to foot’) plus ‘a’ plus DO (‘party’) plus R (‘queen’).
7 UNGULA
Technically, a hoof is a northerner’s ear bent back under large body (6)

A charade of UN (‘large body’) plus GULA, a reversal (‘bent back’) of A LUG (‘a northener’s ear’).
8 LARK
Mischief, latitude and craft (4)

A charade of L (‘latitude’) plus ARK (‘craft’).
13 DYING
Broadcaster’s changing colour on the way out (5)

A homophone (‘broadcaster’s’) of DYEING (‘changing colour’).
14 ABERRATION
NASA’s last orbiter with an unstable irregularity (10)

An anagram (‘unstable’) of A (‘nasA‘s last’) plus ‘orbiter’ plus ‘an’.
16 ETHOS
The cast upset very distinctive character (5)

A charade of ETH, an anagram (‘cast’) of ‘the’ plus OS, a reversal (‘upset) of SO (‘very’).
19 MANTISSA
Two seconds to replace the two lengths of lace shawl — a fractional part (8)

MANTILLA (‘lace shawl’) with LL (‘two lengths’) replaced by SS (‘two seconds’).
21 TEOCALLI
Element of Subbuteo: call it “Mexican temple” (8)

A hidden answer (‘element of’) in ‘SubbuTEO CALL It’.
23 SPRING
Keeping neutral, shoot well (6)

An envelope (‘keeping’) of N (‘neutral’) in SPRIG (‘shoot’).
24 CUCKOO
Silly, gimmicky time announcer (6)

Double definition
26 FIRE
Bombardment of loveless resentment (4)

A charade of ‘[o]F’ without the O (‘loveless’) plus IRE (‘resentment’).
28 BIRD
Swift sentence? (4)

Double definition.
29 DECK
Grace cards (4)

Double definition.
completed grid

45 comments on “Guardian 26,551 by Brummie”

  1. Thanks Peter. I slowed right down for two good ones at the end, 10A and 5D, which left me with the last three four-letter words. With a bit of cursing I got two of them, then guessed ‘fury’ for 26D which is of course as you have it.

  2. I was stuck too at 26d, yet the answer is so obvious. Thank you for that, Peter. The Mexican temple is a new one for me but was easily gettable from the wordplay. A useful word to know – if I can remember it!

  3. Thanks Brummie and PeterO
    I too had 26d and 28 blank long after the rest was complete – I still don’t see how “bombardment” (noun) can be the same as “fire” as a noun.
    Vaguely unsatisfying. OSSA was FOI, familiar from the expression “piling Pelion upon Ossa”. SPRINKLE gave the E for 18, so DUTCH ELM DISEASE was an easy guess.
    I did like the well-concealed RELIC.

  5. Reasonably hard work for me but most enjoyable – there were some very nice clues, although I couldn’t parse FIRE. Favourites were DIEBACK, GASTRIC, CUCKOO and ASCENDING. Many thanks to Brummie and PeterO.

  6. 8 11 can’t be a coincidence….it’s Brummie.
    Any Vaughan Williams specialists around?
    Really enjoyable puzzle, I thought. Thanks Brummie and PeterO

  7. oh how stupid am I…….
    (notices for nth. time that posting something always makes the penny drop). Sorry.

  14. Is there another mini-theme on DISEASE? DUTCH ELM DISEASE, clearly; DIEBACK DISEASE, PNEUMONIA

  16. Thanks Brummie and PeterO.

    A most enjoyable puzzle. I needed help with parsing and stuck for a while, as did some others, at 26d.
    I liked the bird references and the ‘rabbit illusion’ (hat-trick!).

    I wonder if there are some other pairs, the first time one crosses the equator on a ship, one is baptised, SPRINKLEd, by the SEA GOD Neptune.

    muffin @3, ‘under enemy fire’, ‘under enemy bombardment’ ?

  17. Thanks Brummie, very enjoyable, although I missed the theme as ever.

    Thanks PeterO; I loved the ‘cutting panel’ for CLIPBOARD. I did think of chipboard at first but I wasn’t sure about the ‘High Street surveyor’s use.’ 😉

    I also particularly liked CUCKOO.

  19. For once, I spotted the musical bird theme almost straight away, which helped a lot. A very enjoyable puzzle – many thanks to Brummie & PeterO.

  20. I found this quite tricky but I got there without the use of aids and all the answers were parsed so I can’t complain. It took me quite a while to get UNGULA, and I finished with the CUCKOO/CLIPBOARD crossers. I was pleased TEOCALLI was so helpfully clued.

  22. Thanks to PeterO for the blog. You explained a couple where I had the answer but not the parsing.

    19d held me up for a while. I got the idea of putting SS in place of LL then was fooled by ‘lace shawl’ in the clue as those words have LL but too many letters. ðŸ™

    In 24d where is the time announcer?

  26. I found this a bit tricky in places, and there were a few that went in unparsed from definition and crossers. The only unfamiliar word was TEOCALLI, which was clearly clued so no complaints there. The SE corner held out longest – took me a long time to see CLIPBOARD and CUCKOO was last in.

    Thanks to Brummie and PeterO

  29. … Chambers assures me that is for bird-lime, rhyming slang for time.

    For those of you who prefer to describe 27A CLIPBOARD as a charade, that’s fine by me – I was in two minds how to describe it. Once past the ‘surveyor’ hurdle, the answer is clear even if there are different ways of describing the path.

    And I missed the musical birds.

  33. Thanks to PeterO and Brummie. As usual I got several answers without understanding the parsing. I missed the “loveless” OF (but correctly guessed FIRE) and did not know KNICKERS as an expletive. I got UNGULA from the definiton, not the parsing, and got SEA GOD from the crossers (I missed SOD). By now I do know UK RABBIT can mean “talk incessantly,” but I confess getting GASTRIC from “of stomach.” I had heard of BIRD as prison sentence from previous puzzles. All in all, an enjoyable (and educational) outing.

  34. Found this easier than most Brummies despite missing the bird theme, though I did notice the diseases. But blotted my copybook as I had CHIPBOARD at 27a, assuming my inability to parse only reflected on my lack of brain rather than the answer being wrong.

  35. Did I notice the theme(s)? Of course I didn’t. However most of the puzzle was straightforward. I must have heard of TEOCALLI somewhere because I got it without noticing the hidden word but I puzzled over MANTISSA- my LOI-for a long time. Perhaps not the most enjoyable puzzle I’ve done but OK.
    Thanks Brummie.

  37. Thanks all
    Quite tricky, I thought.
    Last in was 26d,the (o)f fooled me.I did not manage to parse dieback, it was the dick I missed!!
    Good exercise.

  38. crosser @36
    Because “sinew” is only “muscle” metaphorically – they are different types of tissue, in fact.

  39. Thanks all
    Quite tricky, I thought.
    Last in was 26d,the (o)f fooled me.I did not manage to parse dieback, it was the dick I missed!!
    Good exercise

  40. Thanks all
    Quite tricky, I thought.
    Last in was 26d,the (o)f fooled me.I did not manage to parse dieback, it was the dick I missed!!
    Good puzzle

  41. Sorry about the duplication but I tried for ages to submit 39 and was told each time that it was a duplicate, although it had not appeared.When I made the slight alteration to the last word it immediately posted both versions.
    I am totally baffled.

  42. Thank you, Brummie, for an enjoyable puzzle. There are too many clever clues to pick out just a few. I spotted the birds, but not their musical connections. I too parsed CLIPBOARD as a charade, not a double definition. I got FIRE but couldn’t parse it, so thanks to PeterO for that explanation.

Comments are closed.