Guardian Cryptic N° 26,096 by Rufus

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26096.

Even more cryptic definitions than usual for a Rufus – and a couple with wordplay thrown in as well.

Across
1. Essentially consisting of articles and paintings (2,5)
AT HEART A charade of A THE (‘articles’) plus ART (‘paintings’).
5. Leaves without resources — needs way to get currency (7)
STRANDS A charade of ST (street, ‘way’) plus RANDS (South African ‘currency’). 
10. Wooden stick’s about right for an annoying child (4)
BRAT An envelope (‘about’) of R (‘right’) in BAT (‘wooden stick’). Of course, the definition is not extended.
11. Save father suffering with a soothing application (10)
AFTERSHAVE An anagram (‘suffering’) of ‘save father’. 
Soothing?
12. Shade of nun seen round a religious establishment (6)
NUANCE An envelope (‘seen round’) of ‘a’ in ‘nun’ plus CE (Church of England, ‘religious establishment’). 
13. Travel overseas to get home (8)
EMIGRATE Cryptic definition. 
14. Implement for eating meat paste? (9)
CHOPSTICK A charade of CHOP (‘meat’) plus STICK (‘paste’).
16. She loved Paris — not only in the spring! (5)
HELEN The face that launched a thousand ships, of course. 
17. In full, it represents a cubic decimetre (5)
LITRE A hidden answer (‘in’) in ‘fulL IT Represents’. 
19. Rational conclusion to be drawn from one’s earnings (9)
DEDUCTION Double definition.
23. Sentimental jerk in the Eternal City? (8)
ROMANTIC A charade of ROMAN (‘in the Eternal City’) plus TIC (‘jerk’). 
24. Create a secret passage (6)
ENCODE Cryptic definition. 
26. He pays the price of publicity (10)
ADVERTISER Cryptic definition.
27. The call of the sea? (4)
AHOY Cryptic definition. 
28. In favour of nuclear experiment — or against it? (7)
PROTEST Cryptic … sorry, a charade of PRO (‘in favour of’) plus TEST (‘nuclear experiment’), with an extended definition. 
29. Beaten by a whisker (7)
WHIPPED Cryptic definition, with reference to a ‘whisk-er’ of the culinary kind.
…
Down
2. Finished, being nothing less than painstaking (7)
THROUGH A subtraction: TH[o]ROUGH (‘painstaking’) without the O (‘nothing less than’). 
3. College announced what courses should be (5)
EATEN A homophone (‘announced’) of ETON (‘college’), with the ‘courses’ again being culinary. 
4. It helps the analyst get near confounded answer (7)
REAGENT An anagram (‘confounded’) of ‘get near’; ‘answer’ tells you that … REAGENT is the answer. 
6. Vegetable growing from vessel in the rubbish dump (6)
TURNIP An envelope (‘in’) of URN (‘vessel’) in TIP (‘rubbish dump’). 
7. Those that do will probably have a mortgage, though it’s horrid (9)
ABHORRENT Those that ABHOR RENT may well own their dwelling. 
8. Keen supporter voted out on two points (7)
DEVOTEE A charade of DEVOT, an anagram (‘out’) of ‘voted’ plus E E (‘two points’ of the compass). 
9. He may get carried away without realising it (9,4)
STRETCHER CASE Cryptic definition. 
15. This way for the train (9)
PERMANENT Cryptic definition. 
… well, maybe sometimes they go off the rails.
18. Tidy — as a monk will be (2,5)
IN ORDER Definition and cryptic definition. 
20. Discover a foreign planet (7)
UNEARTH A charade of UN (‘a foreign’. Fortunately I speak foreign fluently) plus EARTH (‘planet’). 
21. Money for it is effortlessly acquired (3,4)
OLD ROPE Cryptic definition. 
22. Significance of graven images out East (6)
STATUS A subtraction: STATU[e]S (‘graven images’) without the E (‘out East’). 
25. Embrace for warrior previously decorated (5)
CLASP Double definition; a clasp is a bar added to a medal.

  1. Pretty straightforward this morning. A nice gentle start to the week. Enjoyed Peter’s illustrations.

  2. Thanks Rufus and PeterO
    I had no idea about the second meaning of CLASP, so I was puzzled by this one. Otherwise straightforward. Some of the “cryptic definitions” were more satisfying than others, I thought. I liked WHIPPED, but thought AHOY was feeble.

  3. Thanks, PeterO

    Nice gentle start to the week? Some of us clearly have our brains wired differently. I found this rather tricky, with all those cryptic definitions.

    Rufus writes such beautifully seamless clues that it can be difficult to spot the method of construction. I did enjoy 11a and 14a.

  4. Thanks, PeterO.

    I found this hard to get started, too.

    The only amusement I found was in 28ac – in Peter’s blog, that is :). Nine CDs, indeed. However, the grid was fine.

  5. Thanks to Rufus and PeterO. All very enjoyable, but I still don’t understand how 15ac PERMANENT is derived from the clue.

  6. I found this slightly harder than some of Rufus’s recent puzzles despite the more solver-friendly grid. PERMANENT and CLASP were my last two in. I thought the clue for ABHORRENT was pretty good.

  8. Thanks Rufus and PeterO.

    Difficult to get into this one; someone will have to explain to the dummy the ‘spring’ in Helen and the ‘train’ in PERMANENT.

    I did enjoy AT HEART and ABHORRENT.

  14. Sorry, Robi, we crossed. Yes, I know the song, but as it goeson to recite loving Paris in all the other seasons it doesn’t seem to fit. Given that it’s Rufus, am I wasting my time looking for something cryptic?

  15. Ian SW3 @14; unless Eileen can tell us something cryptic to do with Helen and Spring, I think it must just be a reference to the first line of the song.

  16. My interpretation is that the ‘spring’ reference is for the surface, and to mislead the solver into the wrong interpretation of ‘Paris’. But not all the classical accounts agree that Helen loved him anyway: her removal from Sparta to Troy (as the prize for awarding the golden apple to Aphrodite) is often described as an abduction, rather than a seduction.

  18. Must have been on Rufus’ wavelength today as found this one a relatively easy solve. COD ABHORRENT and thanks to Muffin @ 7 for help in explaining PERMANENT, which I got from the crossing letters but did not understand.

  19. Thanks all
    Not a lot of fun here. Favurite was ‘abhorrent’.
    Although I ‘had’clasp and whipped I wrote in neither as they seemed so woolly.

  21. I’ve just got back onto this and see that muffin @7 answered my query a few mins before I posted it. Thanks.

    My other issue was, as with most of you, ‘not only in the spring’. Thanks for the suggestions.

    During pre-breakfast coffee it was a toss-up today whether to go for Rufus as a semi non-crytic puzzle or the quck crossword. We ended up doing both as the former was not very satisfying.

  23. Re Helen, I reckon Polyphone’s gone too deep. It’s just Helen loved Paris all year round, with the clue trying to mislead – and failing! – on the Paris in the Springtime angle.

    A weak puzzle for me, bit of a Boomtown Rats job (I don’t like Mondays either).

  24. @bootikins 23

    Doubtless you are right – just thought it would have been a nice clue if a double reference to Paris in the Spring … πŸ™‚

  25. Usual Monday Rufus fare. (Yawn!)

    I agree with RCW as this was even more “woolly” than usual.

    Thanks to PeterO and Rufus.

  26. Very mixed I thought.

    Some barely cryptics, but the odd dash of humour e.g. 21d helped.

    My anti-COD was 25d. “For warrior previously decorated” as a definition for “clasp”, a medal holding bar (amongst much else), was, I think, pushing it.

    Thanks one and all.

  27. Martin P @26

    I cannot be sure from what you say, but the CLASP may not be as far a stretch as that: I think it is more usually referred to as a bar, but it is a kind of “double medal”, an award added to the original for further acts of bravery.

    polyphone @20

    I am impressed at your coming up with the quote, but I agree that it is unlikely to have been Rufus’ intent

  28. Ah: thanks Peter that makes far more sense. I suppose with his military background Mr. Squires would have that sort of thing to hand.

  29. loved this crossword. please please please can we have more crosswords set by rufus?!!! gives us ordinary folk a fighting chance x

  30. re #29

    Please, please please can we have fewer crosswords by Rufus. That would give at least half of the solvers something challenging to do each day.

    OR, as I have suggested more than once, why not have two puzzles each day (at least in the online version). Then one could be a “beginners” and one could be “experienced” (or even use some ridicously PC terms which seem to be de rigeur nowadays. “Hard for you very clever people” and “Mindbendingly difficult”. This used to be called lying. πŸ™‚ )

  31. Brendan@30
    I can see exactly the point you are making but these diagreements seem to ignore the presence everyday of a considerable number of both off- and on-line puzzles to chose from.

  32. RCW @31

    Which choices online are you referring to?

    I see none other than the Guardian!

    Welcome back by the way.

  33. 5ac: The acceptable plural of Rand is Rand, not Rands. Yes, I know “rands” appears in Chambers*. But you won’t find it on the website of the South African Reserve Bank. (“The currency of South Africa consists of banknotes and coin and is denoted in Rand (R) and Cents (c).”)

    *FWIW, Chambers also lists “Emmies” as a plural of the TV award known as an Emmy. That, too, is incorrect.

    (I’ve come around to the view that setters should be able to use words that appear in major references – even if they’re of dubious validity. So this is not a criticism of Rufus, but of Chambers.)

  34. Keeper @33

    “*FWIW, Chambers also lists “Emmies” as a plural of the TV award known as an Emmy. That, too, is incorrect.”

    On what basis do you consider this “incorrect”?

  35. Brendan @34: One need look no further than http://www.emmys.com or http://www.emmys.tv. (Compare http://www.emmies.com.) If that’s not enough, the Emmy name and the Emmy statuette are the trademarked property of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Their usage (Emmys) is the only one that should be considered correct.

    Trademark/copyright issues aside, I think the general rule is that proper nouns ending in “y” take an “s” in the plural: Eight Henrys have been King of England. The Kennedys are a prominent family in American politics. etc.

  36. “and a couple with wordplay thrown in as well” gee, you’d think cryptic puzzles would feature those.

    Oh well.

    “This way for the train (9) = PERMANENT” What? How? When? Where?

    “Money for it is effortlessly acquired (3,4) = OLD ROPE” What? How? When? Where?

    If you are going to “blog” such weirdness as “solutions”, please explain how they fit the clues?

    Thanks PeterO and Rufus.

    Befuddled,

    Huw

  37. Apologies if I did not make the blog clear enough. “Permanent way” is, as muffin said @6, the railway track and associated hardware. Fairly obvious, and although it is not what I would call a common expression, it does have it own Wikipedia page. “Money for old rope” is a common English – maybe English English – expression, meaning something of value obtained in exchange for something worthless, or at little effort.

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