Guardian 26,478 by Rufus

by

Well it’s Monday, it’s Rufus, it’s mostly easy. You knew that before coming here though.

Usual mix of CDs and DDs but after already doing the Indy it was a relief not to have a tough one here.

Thanks Rufus.

completed grid

Across

8 Lover involved in standard affair (8)
PARAMOUR
PAR standard & AMOUR affair
9 Got paid employment, providing organ study in return (6)
EARNED
EAR organ & DEN study reversed
10 Bound to leave something out (4)
SKIP
The first double def of the day.
11 Speed merchant? (4,6)
DRUG DEALER
Cryptic def cum &lit DRUG speed & DEALER merchant [Typo fixed]
12 One in charge puts blunder right (6)
GAFFER
GAFFE blunder & R(ight)
14 What people think of duck feathers? (8)
OPINIONS
0 duck & PINIONS feathers
15 Bundles used to haul on board (7)
SHEAVES
HEAVE haul in S.S.
17 Beg for quarter in the wood (7)
BESEECH
South East  quarter in BEECH wood
20 Begins hunting like a sea wolf (8)
ASPIRATE
As in H begins H(unting) – AS like & PIRATE sea wolf.
22 Constructive members of society (6)
MASONS
Cryptic def
23 Boxing champion employed in the circus (10)
RINGMASTER
Cryptic cum double def
24 Tool turned to burg­larious purpose (4)
LOOT
TOOL reversed
25 Agree current yield (6)
ACCEDE
A/C alternating current & CEDE yield
26 Admitting nothing has been settled (8)
ALLOWING
nothing paid, ALL OWING

Down

1 Violent reaction against a flogging? (8)
BACKLASH
Double def
2 Parking on drive may be exploitation (4)
RAMP
RAM drive & P(arking)
3 A fighting man, I go to join up (6)
SOLDER
I going from SOLD(i)ER
4 It’s out of the frying pan and into the soup! (7)
CROUTON
Cryptic def
5 Row after school principal appears in the paper (8)
HEADLINE
HEAD principal & LINE row
6 Nerds arise! Break the monotony (10)
DREARINESS
[NERDS ARISE]* are broken
7 Humble cleric covering the Middle East (6)
DEMEAN
M(iddle) E(ast) in DEAN
13 They fly some flag in trouble (10)
FLAMINGOES
[SOME FLAG IN]* troubled
16 Issued with the name and date incorrect (8)
EMANATED
[NAME DATA]* are incorrect
18 Contradict, using a mild expletive (8)
CONFOUND
Double def
19 Presumably the bride wouldn’t think of him as such (4,3)
BEST MAN
Cryptic def one hopes 🙂
21 Transfer for a striker? (6)
SWITCH
Double def
22 Spirit in an army, or in one man? (6)
MORALE
OR (the word in the clue) in MALE man
24 Fine stuff for sitting on in summer (4)
LAWN
Double def, it’s also a thin linen
*anagram

31 comments on “Guardian 26,478 by Rufus”

  1. Thank you Flashling for the blog. Rather cleverly methinks, in 15ac SHEAVES are the pulley wheels in block and tackle, so would be used on board ship. Also a wee typo in your explanation in 11ac – SPEED not speen. Pip!Pip!

  2. Good morning and thank you, flashling.

    Took me an age to see BACKLASH. I think I’ve become like a batsman who’s faced too much spin – gets bowled out by his kids on the beach with a perfectly innocuous ball!

    Nice week, all.

  3. PS Isn’t PINION surprising in it’s breadth of meaning?

    From mechanical to feathers. I recall the latter from Burns’ ‘Composed in August’ – The sportsman’s joy, the murd’ring cry, the flutt’ring, gory pinion!

  4. I have a slight bee in my bonnet re BE(SE)EECH- maybe its pedantic to think of SE as two quarters- but what the hell, its Rufus and a good one at that.

  6. I took me a while to see RAMP and SWITCH. My only slight quibble is that “begins hunting” suggests “aspirates” rather than ASPIRATE, and the more correct “begin hunting” would have made no difference to the wordplay.

  7. Had WHIPLASH and DOPEDEALER so never recovered. Tends to happen quite a lot with Rufus as the clues are often quite vague.

  8. Thanks Rufus and Flashling.

    There were some very clever clues here. ASPIRATE had me foxed for a while, I was thinking of someone wolfing down spaghetti by aspirating it. I did not know RAMP could mean exploitation, nor that SHEAVES could mean wheels in pulley blocks.

    As William @3 says, PINION is surprising in its breadth of meaning, though the cog wheel and cogged spindle have their roots in ‘pine cone’.

  9. Thanks Rufus for a good start to the week.

    Thanks flashling; LOI was SWITCH. I didn’t like the use of ‘on,’ meaning ‘tacked on’ I suppose in a (2) down clue. It usually means ‘on top of’ on most occasions.

    I did like ALLOWING.

  10. Thanks Rufus and flashling. RAMP and LAWN had me stuck, not being familiar with their alternative uses as exploitation or linen.

    “Got paid employment” doesn’t feel synonymous enough to EARNED to me; I just can see how one might replace the other.

    Aside from that, decent enough for the start of a week.

  11. 15ac is one of those “water from the same well” clues: cede and accede both from cedere.

    I’m with William @2 and Poc @7 — often find Rufus harder than other setters.

  13. Thanks to flashling for the blog.

    I agree with Poc @7: Rufus’s clues are often so vague as to allow alternative answers. Here I’m thinking of 10a – my first response was JUMP which fits the clue just as well as SKIP. ðŸ™

  14. Ha ha yes! The exactitude of clues that really ‘beat up’ their answers with plenty of wordplay is something I miss in Rufus’s so-called ‘easy’ puzzles. It becomes a guessing-game beyond the clues a lot of the time for me. And the groaning puns!

  15. Found this a bit trickier than Rufus often is (though in retrospect it’s not obvious why), but quite enjoyable. Last in was RAMP, which I had to convince myself could be right.

    Thanks to Rufus and flashling

  16. Can’t see why RAMP is exploitation, but never mind. I liked OPINIONS and PARAMOUR. Thanks to Rufus and flashling.

  17. There was lots to like here.

    It would be quite fun to have a week of unsigned crosswords, and then we have to guess who set each one. Rufus is one with a very identifiable style, so I think we’d all spot his one. For one thing you could just work out the average number of words per clue – if it came to around four, it’s Rufus. 🙂

    I thought MASONS was a classic Rufous idea.

  18. I found this more difficult than usual and I rather agree with hedgehoggy about the vagueness of some of the clues. I guessed RAMP, LAWN and SHEAVES. I had DRUGPUSHER for a time and I struggled with some of the “easy” ones- BACKLASH for one. I’m quite happy with the puns though. Not one of Rufus’s best and not the most enjoyable either.

  20. Thanks Rufus and flashling.

    Share ramping is a form of market exploitation where the “bad guys” buy into a company, persuade others to buy in too, thereby boosting or ‘ramping’ the price, then sell out quick to leave the others nursing losses.

    hth

  21. I had DRUG TRADER for a while … I think there’s a bit of a theme emerging amongst solvers …

    And I’m with others too re RAMP, indeed I enumerated all the *A*P words I could and this was the most likely possibility, courtesy of RAM + P. I did know ramp = con (trick) but thought ramp = exploitation a bit of a stretch. Equally that other pesky four-letter word LAWN introduced me to a new meaning. Which is fair enough, really.

  22. Thanks all
    Rather more difficult than usual Monday. I had down for 24 down and there missed the obvious loot.
    Why the “army” in 22 down.

  23. chas @ 13 I had LEAP for 10ac, and was so certain of it I used the cheat button to enter it – imagine my annoyance when SKIP appeared.

    limeni @ 17 I thought this too, and suggested it several years ago, but the idea has not been taken up.

    Thanks, flashling

  24. Like others I took a while to see the SWITCH and then the light went on, liked SHEAVES and ACCEDE.

    Thanks both.

  25. “Paramour” is another one that’s objectionable on the “water from the same well” basis. “Amour” is obviously from the same etymological root as “paramour” itself is.

    Same objection on “confound”; the two definitions are a little too close to be kosher.

    One of the interlaced plots of “Love Actually” has the best man in love with the bride…of course–it’s Keira Knightley, who wouldn’t be?

    Lastly, I liked the “Nerds arise!” clue–perfect for the audience for crosswords.

  26. I can’t see how this can be described as “mostly easy”. It certainly wasn’t for me.

    That’s the problem with these type of puzzles. You either see a CD or DD instantly or it can take an age. Of course the other problem with Rufus is that quite a few of his DD aren’t quite “double” definitions as has been pointed out.

    Although I finished this I agree with the posters who found this the worst Rufus for a while.

    The worst clue for me was 9A but I won’t blame Rufus as this was surely a Grauniadism. Surely the clue should have begun “Got paid FOR employment….”. However there was lots more to not like in this.

    Thanks to flashling and Rufus.

  27. Which posters said it was the worst rufus for a while? I didn’t read that – the last poster is imagining things! Nicely tricky today. Loved aspirate and crouton. Rufus crosswords do what they say on the tin and i relish mondays guardian for that reason. A puzzle i can just about complete with plenty of smiles on the way. Thanks rufus and blogger.

  28. Thanks Rufus and flashling

    Can usually whip through a Rufus quite quickly – but not today … took an age to get all four of those pesky four-letter jobbies with LAWN (also started with ‘down’) and LOOT the last two in !!!

    Quite enjoyed the rest with a little more of the subtle wit that he can contrive in his cryptic definitions.

  31. 15A Sheaves is a dd, isn’t it? A sheave being the grooved wheel in a pulley used for hauling or hoisting.

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