Guardian 26,557 / Screw

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I had it on good authority – from the horse’s mouth, as it were -  in Cambridge on Saturday, that today would see Screw’s second puzzle. When I realised that it was my blog, my initial delight was tinged with a certain apprehension – not entirely unfounded, as it turned out.

The answers went in without too much trouble, with a number of smiles and ‘ahas’ at the ingenuity and wit of the cluing, but I realised as I went along that I was shelving the parsing in a rather disquieting number of cases, hoping that light would dawn when I came to write up the blog. In the event, the last handful took longer than the solving of the puzzle and there’s still one [22ac] that I haven’t fully unravelled.

It was a tough workout but an enjoyable and satisfying one. Many thanks, Screw – come back soon!

Across

1 Second couple from Brazil rejected place to sleep? (7)
BOUDOIR
Reversal [rejected] of RIO DUO B – as a second couple from Brazil might be defined

5 Thinks a little more, as on ­screen (7)
REASONS
Hidden in moRE AS ON Screen

9 Performers no more precise (5)
EXACT
EX ACT – performers no more

10,26 Split classic suit, is money OTT for tailoring? (3,3,3,3,2)
IT’S NOT YOU IT’S ME
Anagram [for tailoring] of SUIT IS MONEY OTT: I didn’t enter yesterday’s debate about the indication of apostrophes – where I have no problem – but I think this clue [along with 21,28] illustrates that the present practice is preferable. I loved the definition here.

11 At sea, so plunders magnificent stuff (10)
SPLENDOURS
Anagram [at sea] of SO PLUNDERS

12 Perfectly brown bread, not sliced at first (2,1,1)
TO A T
TOA[s]T [brown bread, minus the initial letter of sliced]

14 Sarong’s packed by George! (8,4)
FLIPPING NORA
I think this is a reversal [flipping] of the inside letters [packed] of sARONg – I think: [‘Flipping heck’ was my reaction!]

18 Making the most, saw savings — £100, current investment (12)
MAXIMISATION
MAXIM [saw] + ISA [SAVINGS] + I [current] in A TON [£100] – one of my favourite clues [among many]

21,28 Gents’ toilet playing romantic song (4,3,2,2)
LET’S GET IT ON
Anagram [playing] of GENTS’ TOILET

22 Senior group writes, taxing Americans I must infiltrate (10)
PENSIONERS
PENS [writes] + I in ONERS??

25 Fear of novelty mince pie on a hob (9)
NEOPHOBIA
ANAGRAM [mince] of PIE ON A HOB

27 Brief hippy movement’s condition, close to assembly plant (7)
SALSIFY
SALS[a] [brief hippy movement!] + IF [condition] + [assembl]Y

Down

1,16 Enhancements from competitor mistitled “petite”? (6,8)
BREAST IMPLANTS
I stared at this for ages, looking for anagrams that didn’t work, etc, before it hit me between the eyes that we have ‘breast implants’ in compeTITor misTITled peTITe – Paul, eat your heart out!

2 United’s jet is fit for service (6)
USABLE
U [united] + SABLE [jet – black]

3 Partying with bar, nearly exposed (3,2,1,4)
OUT ON A LIMB
OUT ON A LIMB[o] – partying with bar [nearly]

4 Animal‘s hip described in Aristotle’s letter (5)
RHINO
IN [hip] in RHO [Aristotle’s letter]

5 Check others shower on time (9)
RESTRAINT
REST [others] + RAIN [shower] + T [time]

6 Queue heard following this lot to the highest point (4)
ATOP
A TO P [‘this lot’] is followed by Q [sounds like queue] – this took longer to see than it should have, since a similar device to clue ATOM is something of a classic

7 Axes to split old plank, pretty ugly one (8)
OXYMORON
XY [axes] in [to split] O [old] MORON [plank] – a clever clue [awfully good, you might say] and a great surface

8 Hit double to knock out gutted team again (5,3)
STUNT MAN
STUN [knock out] + T[ea]M A[GAI]N

13 Land expert on a rig most awkwardly (10)
AGRONOMIST
Anagram [awkwardly] of ON A RIG MOST

15 When Charles should inherit, thug stands up as representative (6,3)
POSTER BOY
POST ER [after Queen Elizabeth – when Charles should inherit] + a reversal [stands up] of YOB [thug]

17 Sex show about Liberals — it predicts the X-rating (4,4)
EXIT POLL
EXPO [show] round IT [sex] + LL [Liberals]

19 Liking golf when retired causes annoyance (4,2)
GETS AT
Reversal [when retired] of TASTE [liking] + G [golf]

20 Train set ran mainly backwards (6)
ASTERN
Anagram [train] of SET RAN] – ‘mainly’ meaning ‘at sea’

23 Somewhat indigenous language (5)
SLANG
Hidden in indigenouS LANGuage – &lit

24 Reportedly finish drawing tongue (4)
THAI
Sounds like [reportedly] ‘tie’ – ‘finish drawing’

61 comments on “Guardian 26,557 / Screw”

  1. Thanks Eileen and Screw
    The US tax collectors are the IRS, with ONE (I) inside.
    I had no idea of the parsing for BOUDOIR, BREAST IMPLANTS or ATOP, so wrote them in on definition and crossers alone – this got me into trouble, as I had DRESSING GOWN for 14a for some time!
    I’ve not heard of the song LET’S GET IT ON – it doesn’t sound all that romantic.
    I loved POSTER BOY and ASTERN

  2. Muffin, I think the setter thinks exactly the same as you (and I) about the “romantic” song, and his stance is made beautifully clear by the lavatorial wordplay.

    Thanks to Screw for great entertainment and to Eileen for explaining the 1s. 1d may have its knockers, but I loved it – when I got it…

  3. This puzzle was so enjoyable for me, with only a handful of clues that did *not* make me sit back and think “wow, that was clever!” It’s only his/her second puzzle and I can’t wait to see Screw again!

    And 22 Across is PENS + ONE(I) in IRS(American taxers).

  4. Thanks, Eileen. I needed several explanations from you, including 1d – what a pity, I wish I had seen that one for myself.

    I was toying with something SONG for FLIPPING NORA for ages, until the light dawned near the end.

    I had to google ITS NOT YOU ITS ME just now – it may be a classic but it didn’t hit me in the face.

    Enjoyable on the whole

  10. Some tricky clues – BREAST IMPLANTS was very clever (I couldn’t parse it). Never heard of FLIPPING NORA. But all good fun. Thanks to Screw and Eileen.

  11. Thanks Eileen and Screw (whose wavelength I was not really on!)

    I failed to solve 1a, 14a (only got ‘flipping’ for some reason), 27a, 2d, 6d.

    I solved but could not parse 1d, 3d, 18a, 17d

    My favourites were 10/26a and 15d.

    The only reason I could solve LET’S GET IT ON was because it was an anagram. It is not really a “romantic” song – but apparently a lot of people (claim to) have had sex to this song since this 1970s. And another of his songs “Sexual Healing” has the same sort of reputation.

  12. Thanks, Eileen. I was pleased to see that you were blogging this puzzle because your explanations are always clear.
    I had never heard of “flipping nora” and even with all the crossers, I didn’t get it.

  13. I found this extremely enjoyable, and my biggest smile probably came when I saw FLIPPING NORA. I confess that I biffed (BIFD – bunged in from definition) BREAST IMPLANTS and PENSIONERS and didn’t bother to try and parse them. Now that I have seen how the former works I agree with Eileen’s comment, although I’m sure there’ll be people who dislike the clue.

  14. Thanks Screw and Eileen

    This was very tough for me, but enjoyable. I needed help with parsing, extra thanks Eileen.
    FLIPPING NORA was new. I did like MAXIMISATION, OXYMORON, POSTER BOY and EXIT POLL.
    It seems to be an XXXX rated puzzle…

  17. I frequently chuckle/groan when I solve the clue 10/16 being a good example today, though I also loved the idea that Charles will be the POST ER BOY (OK my parsing was a little off with that). Rarely does the blog have the same effect, but today 1d did it, thank you Eileen for the explanation.

    I do have to say I find reversed yob to give boy as a bit clumsy. I believe the origins of yob are that it is a backwards boy, so what we effectively have is a backwards backwards boy.

    Otherwise a really clever crossword. Thanks to Screw.

  18. Cookie@16 – no, it wasn’t you I had in mind. There are posters here who dislike Paul’s smuttier clues and say so regularly, just as I regularly say I like them.

  19. Thanks Screw/Donk, a great crossword. I was about to object to B = second in 1a until I realised it was the extension of RIO DUO, doh! 🙠[yes, my preview is now working]

    Thanks Eileen, especially for parsing BREAST IMPLANTS, which I failed to see (it’s just my sheltered upbringing! 😉 ) I also failed on the IRS test (not something which mrpenney is likely to do!)

    Many great clues, I particularly liked POSTER BOY & ATOP.

  21. Thanks Eileen and Screw
    A very clever and entertaining puzzle. I failed to parse 1,16 (and also 27a for some reason). Too many good clues to list – 10,26 probably my favourite.

  22. That was fun, but I found it rather easier to fill in the grid than parse all of the solutions – must admit to writing in BREAST IMPLANTS fairly early without parsing. Last in was ATOP. Not sure I’d ever seen FLIPPING NORA before, in my part of the world it would have been FLIPPIN’ ADA or BLOODY NORA.

    Thanks to Warder and Eileen

  23. Delighted to meet Screw on Saturday, and now he’s just shot to the top of my great setters list. Despite seeing Sunday Times version of ‘atop’, still took ages to get it again, doubtless because it was actually Spouse who got it and explained in a rather patronising tone I thought, so I ignored him…

  24. Same parsing puzzles as most others, though not with ATOP. Some very clever constructions here nevertheless and I will look forward to Screw’s next puzzle.

    Last night I was doing an old Phi puzzle which I had taken to Cambridge on Saturday in case I got bored. It had a single-word STUNTMAN as a solution so no surprise that today’s STUNT MAN was my last one in.

  25. Like others, I filled in the grid rather quickly but needed Eileen’s help for the parsing. Yes, the IRS in PENSIONERS was easier from this side of the pond, but I missed the IF=”condition” in SALSIFY and got BREAST IMPLANTS from the crossers. I liked OXYMORON but “plank” was new to me and ATOP was clear from the definition though I missed followed by Q-queue. Thanks to Screw for an enjoyable exercise and again to Eileen for her explanations.

  26. Thank you Eileen, that was fun!

    I must confess to a few unparsed answers but the puzzle was no worse for that.

    BREAST IMPLANTS made me chuckle & PENSIONERS, STUNTMAN, ATOP, and OXYMORON were belters.

    Beery Hiker @22 – Yeah, I rather thought the same.

    Smashing, clever puzzle from the helical fixer, more please.

    Nice week, all.

  27. Thanks to Screw and Eileen. Favo(u)rite for me: OXYMORON. Failed to parse PENSIONERS – and we
    just sent a $5000 check to the Infernal Revenue Service. Flipping Nora!

    Cheers…

  29. I did like this quite a bit. Funny, I was looking for the IRS in that clue as soon as I saw that U.S. taxers were wanted, but I didn’t figure out the rest of the clue until the very end—it was my last in.

    The IRS is quite on people’s minds this time of year: tax returns (and any unpaid taxes as well) are due, for most people, April 15 for the previous year. Those who get refunds are currently spending their refund checks; those who owed are currently recovering from the hit.

    Flipping Nora was a new phrase for me, but I figured it out easily enough. Did NOT figure out the breast implants, which went in by definition only. I also didn’t parse BOUDOIR.

  31. Thanks to Screw for a quirky and amusing puzzle and Eileen, especially for the parsing of 1a, 1d and 6d

    In 1a, 1d I thought the phrase was actually flippin’ nora with ‘packed by George’ indicating an included G, perhaps? Didn’t think –ing existed in Cockney.

    Favorites were MAXIMISATION and OXYMORON

  32. “Flaming Nora” was one of Jack Duckworth’s pet phrases in Coronation Street, but I haven’t heard the “flipping” version in use. But as in Robi’s link @30, if you Google it, you’ll find it.

  33. Thanks, Eileen

    Late to post, so not much to add. Ingenious puzzle, with some clever constructions (including several whose parsing eluded me).

    I agree with Tom_I @32 that ‘Flaming Nora’ is a more common expression. One of those readers’ questions columns a while ago posted the query: Who was ‘Flaming Nora’? A suggested answer was that she is love child of Suffering Ada and Gordon Bennett.

  34. Thanks Screw and Eileen for a very inventive puzzle and the illuminatory parsing.

    Gervase @ 33: I think you’re right about Flaming Nora. Wasn’t she born somewhere along the Far Canals?

  35. Reference notwithstanding, I agree with Ed. FLAMING NORA and F—–G ADA,I have heard of. This took an age but I agree there is cleverness here although rather too many were difficult to parse even when I had the answers.
    Not quite as enjoyable as it should have been.
    Still, thanks Screw

  36. By the way—forgot a question I had. Am I wrong that the surface sense of 8d (STUNTMAN) is a reference to….gasp….baseball? It would fit an event like this, from an apparently recent game, though I doubt the Nationals were too gutted by losing a game in April. Or is there some other reference being made? (A hit for two runs isn’t called a double in cricket, is it? Is a double century a “double” for short?)

    –M.

  37. Hi mrpenney @36

    My knowledge of anything to do with baseball could be written on a very small postage stamp. Chambers’ definition of a STUNTMAN /woman is ‘one paid to perform showy and dangerous feats [esp a stand-in* for a film actor]’. *’double’? – that’s the way I took it.

  38. Hello mrpenny
    You’re right, we don’t generally use the term double for either two runs or a double hundred in cricket.
    But like Eileen I presumed we were talking about the film usage.

  39. I finished this but I appear to be in the minority again as I didn’t think this was anything like as good as Screw’s first puzzle.

    Lot’s of clue didn’t seem “quite right” and 14A and 8D still seem plain “wrong” in my opinion. Never heard of FLIPPING rather than FLAMING and the wordplay doesn’t work. And why does “Hit double” = “Stunt man”?

    Thanks to Eileen and Screw

  40. Well, right–the definition half of the clue is about the film usage. But as you know, the surface of a cryptic clue often means something completely different. Thus, “hit double” defines STUNTMAN in a movie, while “hit double to knock out gutted team again” sounds like something that happened in some sport. And unless I’m mistaken, the only sports thing that fits is a walk-off double in baseball.

  41. Brendan @39: a stuntman stands in (as a double) to take or give hits. “Hit” is a little loose, but “stunt double” is a synonym for “stuntman,” so close enough.

    –M.

  42. Thanks, mrpenney, for saving me a reply to Brendan [typing with one finger of the left hand is still pretty laborious!].

    Re your own response @40: we had some fairly intricate wordplay in 8dn and were not needing a cryptic definition as well, were we?

  45. Claire @43

    I didn’t amend the blog because help came in so soon – as I knew it would! [It’s often useful to check the comments, as well as the blog – see comments 3 and 5 [and others I may have missed!].

  47. Claire at 43
    The parsing is pens (writes) plus IRS (U.S. Inland revenue service) with ‘one’ inserted (I.e. I).

  50. Mr Penney @41

    Thanks for the reply although I do know what a stunt man is’ 😉

    I am also aware that “Stunt double” = “Stunt man”.

    However never of the above are equivalent to “hit double” so it’s not “good enough”. Are there any examples of this usage for “hit double” as I couldn’t find any. It’s fair enough for Screw to try to misdirect us to darts with the words “hit double” and “team” in the clue but in his case I fear he has cheated a little with the definition.

    The wordplay did lead me to the answer but did make me question the definition.

  52. An evening solve, 1, 16 took me a while but very good. 17d topical. Hope to see more of Screw soon. Great to see so many people at Cambridge this weekend

  54. Lots of nice clues, especially 10a which raised a big smile. Thanks to Screw for this one.

    I ruined the SW corner for myself by pencilling in OPTIMISATION and CHICORY…

  55. Thanks Eileen.

    I initially had “splendrous” rather than “splendours” and “tindi” as the ha rather than “slang”…

    Original clewing generally, thanks Screw.

  58. Morning everyone,

    Many thanks to Eileen for the super blog (and for her commitment to the cause!), and to everyone else for their comments.

    All the best,
    Screw

  59. I have a (rare) free day today. Have this morning – so far – solved this and the Indy’s Commoner and Tees (Monday’s and Tuesday’s respectively); all three delightful. Have also done, from archives, an Arachne and two Tramps. Are we not so extraordinarily fortunate to be addicted to this wonderful sport? I truly know how that proverbial cream-getting cat must feel!
    Perhaps it’s just me, but there are some weeks when I feel the puzzles are a little uninspiring – but this ain’t one such. I shan’t gather today’s puzzles ’til this evening (or tomorrow) and can’t wait….
    This wonderful Screw was superb. I was a little underwhelmed by the defining parts of STUNTMAN (surely one word BTW?) and OUT ON A LIMB (but lovely wordplay) though such tiny niggles are but the fag paper ‘twixt sublimeness and divinity!
    As for parsing, one defeated me; I partly saw it, in the “petite” but was confounded to myopia by the remaining “pee”. This is why I cherish 225 and its shining lights, such as Eileen, hugely.
    Many thanks.
    Wx

  60. Thank you Eileen and well done! I was defeated by ATOP and BREAST IMPLANTS. I got the answers but couldn’t explain why at all. Glad that this was not my blog! Hope you hand gets better soon.

  61. Thanks Eileen – we have only just got around to solving the puzzle. We weren’t able to parse 22ac although we didn’t spend too long on it as we have other things to do!

    Our LOI was 6d which took a while before the penny finally dropped.

    Thanks Screw – it’s also good to know that there are more in the pipeline!

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