The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30022.
Brummie at his best, requiring some care with less common definitions. He often includes a theme, but nothing stands out for me here.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | FREE-FORM |
Unstructured feature of shelf reef or massif (4-4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘feature of’) in ‘shelF REEF OR Massif’. | ||
| 9 | RUFFE |
Agitate live, dumped freshwater fish (5)
|
| A subtraction: RUFF[l]E (‘agitate’) minus the L (‘live dumped’). The fish is also known as a pope. | ||
| 10 | ATOP |
Great opera houses going under? The opposite (4)
|
| A hidden answer (‘houses’) in ‘greAT OPera’. | ||
| 11 | BLANK VERSE |
Ken’s verbal rendering of ‘To be, or not to be’, say (5,5)
|
| An anagram (‘rendering’) of ‘Ken’s verbal’. | ||
| 12 | SNOBBY |
Condescending southern outdated name given to Clark? (6)
|
| A charade of S (‘southern’) plus NOBBY (‘outdated name given to Clark’ – a nickname once given, particularly in the military, to anyone named Clark – or Clarke) | ||
| 14 | THROTTLE |
Rubbish, vacuous tutorial fills the silence (8)
|
| An envelope (‘fills’) of ROT (‘rubblish’) plus TL (‘vacuous TutoriaL‘) in ‘the’. | ||
| 16 | RECTIFY |
City’s upset with ref, right? (7)
|
| An anagram (‘upset’) of ‘city’ plus ‘ref’. | ||
| 18 | ONE-STAR |
Martin’s residence in row that’s not highly rated? (3-4)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of NEST (‘martin’s residence’) in OAR (‘row’). | ||
| 21 | ASSIGNED |
Transferred in the manner indicated (8)
|
| AS SIGNED (‘in the manner indicated’). | ||
| 23 | VIEWER |
One struggling to comprehend the Guardian gets Observer (6)
|
| An envelope (‘to comprehend’) of WE (‘the Guardian’) in VIER (‘one struggling’). | ||
| 24 | EXPECTANCY |
Anticipation’s useless except with name-dropping former First Lady (10)
|
| A charade of EXPECT, an anagram (‘useless’) of ‘except’ plus [n]ANCY (Reagan, ‘former First Lady’)minus the N (‘name-dropping’). | ||
| 26 | BODY |
Stiff, wow, having died inside! (4)
|
| An envelope (‘having … inside’) of D (‘died’) in BOY (‘wow’). | ||
| 27 | SOLAR |
Also diverted river as energy source (5)
|
| A charade of SOLA, an anagram (‘diverted’) of ‘also’; plus R (‘river’). | ||
| 28 | SAGACITY |
Wisdom of imposing flag on a large community (8)
|
| A charade of SAG (‘flag’) plus A CITY (‘a large community’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PRETENCE |
Cover figure in fancy crepe (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of TEN (‘figure’) in PRECE, an anagram (‘fancy’) of ‘crepe’. | ||
| 2 | BEEP |
Live recording’s electronic alert (4)
|
| A charade of BE (‘live’) plus EP (extended play ‘recording’). | ||
| 3 | COWBOY |
Devious worker, bully and lout getting a rise (6)
|
| A charade of COW (‘bully’, verb) plus BOY, a reversal (‘getting a rise’ in a down light) of YOB (‘lout’). | ||
| 4 | IMPASTO |
Laying it on thick: ‘One’s too old for love’ (7)
|
| A charade of I’M (‘one’s’) plus PAST (‘too old for’) plus O (‘love’). | ||
| 5 | TREK |
Hiker told about covering arduous walk (4)
|
| A hidden (‘covering’) reversed (‘about’) answer in ‘hiKER Told’. | ||
| 6 | AFTERTASTE |
Lingering sensation of behind getting smack (10)
|
| A charade of AFTER (‘behind’) plus TASTE (‘smack’). | ||
| 7 | VESSEL |
Shelves heaving – husband’s abandoned junk? (6)
|
| An anagram (‘heaving’) of ‘s[h]elves’ minus the H (‘husband’s abandoned’), with the question mark for the indication by the example of the Chinese boat. | ||
| 13 | BOTTICELLI |
Excessive to introduce diamonds into construction of Bill the artist? (10)
|
| An envelope (‘to introduce … into’) of OTT (Over The Top, ‘excessive’) plus ICE (‘diamonds’) in BLLI, an aangram (‘construction’) of ‘Bill’. | ||
| 15 |
See 17
|
|
| 17, 15 | FUN RUN |
Pleasure to manage sporting charity event (3,3)
|
| A charade of FUN (‘pleasure’) plus RUN (‘manage’). | ||
| 19 | ANECDOTE |
A relative (not I) appropriating little Dorothy’s account (8)
|
| An envelope (‘appropriating’) of DOT (‘little Dorothy’) i A N[i]ECE (‘a relative’) minus the I (‘not I’). | ||
| 20 | ODDNESS |
Spare cape’s peculiarity (7)
|
| A charade of ODD (‘spare’) plus NESS (‘cape’). | ||
| 22 | SEXISM |
It is male discrimination? (6)
|
| A charade if IT (‘sex’) plus ‘is’ plus M (‘male’), with an extended definition. | ||
| 23 | VOYAGE |
Goya worked in extremely venerable passage (6)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of OYAG, an anagram (‘worked’) of ‘Goya’ in VE (‘extremely VenerablE‘). | ||
| 25, 26 | TURN BACK |
Spooner’s Rivulet Sailing Course retreat (4,4)
|
| A Spoonerism of BURN (‘rivulet’) TACK (‘sailing course’). | ||
| 26 |
See 25
|
|
Enjoyed this apart from the one that purports to be a Spoonerism
Thanks both
Quite tricky but enjoyable.
I liked ONE STAR, BOTTICELLI, EXPECTANCY and TURN BACK.
I had a half hearted look for a theme after the event but couldn’t find anything convincing.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
Tricky in places. Not helped by an incorrect SNEERY (I was wondering how ‘for Clark’ was clueing RY).
Another new fish with the RUFFE. I do wonder if you learn more about this doing crosswords than angling.
Ticks for BOTTICELLI, SEXISM and THROTTLE.
Thanks PeterO and Brummie
Lovely stuff from the master setter this morning, with THROTTLE my choice for best in class.
I wouldn’t describe a COWBOY as devious, though. Dishonest, inexperienced, or careless perhaps.
Incidentally, the other day in Newport I saw an electrical contractor’s van bearing the names “Patel & Patel – you’ve tried the cowboys, now try the Indians”.
Top ticks for BOTTICELLI, ONE STAR & SNOBBY which I initially thought was a somewhat obscure reference to the erstwhile singer of the Bay City Rollers
SAGA CITY a neologism for places with an ageing population?
Cheers P&B
Pretty smooth from the Brum, and I thought burn tack was quite cute. Thanks B & P.
Love the sign on the van, William @4.
Enjoyable puzzle except for 12ac which I solved as S + NOBBY but I did not understand the NOBBY Clark reference. In general I am very weak on military references as it is not an area that interests me.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO
Pleasant, not too hard. Favourites IMPASTO and BOTTICELLI.
Held up by putting CERTIFY in 16a – all the right letters, not necessarily in the right order.
This gradually fell into place and ended up being enormously satisfying.
RUFFE was a new one for me, also the military nickname (I spent an eternity trying to do something with “Gable”).
The Spoonerism was no lamer than they usually are – but it was more than compensated for by BLANK VERSE, SEXISM and ASSIGNED, all of which also had pleasing surfaces.
Many thanks Brummie and PeterO
I sensed a theme with ONE-STAR, TREK, THROTTLE, VOYAGE, VESSEL, SOLAR plus Space COWBOY and heavenly BODY maybe. Likes for BLANK VERSE (referring to Branagh presumably), SNOBBY, BOTTICELLI, SAGACITY, COWBOY and SEXISM.
Ta Brummie & PeterO.
I do not think there is any particular military connection to the nickname “Nobby Clark” and there is no mention of this in Wikipedia on its origins. Certainly, the Nobbys I have encountered had no military involvement.
Just looked up the origins of “Nobby” in Brewer’s.
“Nobby Clark is the popular name among service personnel for any man surnamed Clark or Clarke. It originated in the dressy, or nobby attire of a clerk (pronounce clark in the UK) of the 19th century”
So yah, boo, sucks to Wikipedia!
[Of course the Nobby that most of us English remember was Stiles! His nickname was a corruption of Norbert.]
Was there a football player called Nobby Clarke?
That’s interesting, Crispy!
Personally, the only times I’ve heard “nobby” used is in Nobby No-mates…
And I agree with Loiner, nobbies like that deffo don’t have anything to do with the military!
Wellbeck – That’s interesting, too. I’ve only come across the term Billy No-Mates. Might be a regional thing.
The only Nobby I knew was a Nobby Neilands.
Also, I had a geography teacher called Mr Taverner who would give everyone a nickname when handing exercise books back; surnames beginning with N would often be prefixed with Nobby, myself included. There wasn’t a Clark around, so I don’t know if he’d have taken this route with them.
I have a friend called Norman, who is referred to as Nobby.
Excellent puzzle with lots of great clues. I think my biggest tick was for the surface of IMPASTO.
I initially had the same thought as William @4 about “devious” in COWBOY, but I suppose it could reasonably apply to workers who deliberately charge for work they know to be substandard.
“To be or not to be” was probably the most obvious example of BLANK VERSE but perhaps something from The Tempest could have been chosen as Ken Branagh is currently starring in that.
Here are a few more theories about Nobby!
Many thanks Brummie and PeterO.
A very quick solve for a Brummie for once. Being neither an artist nor an angler I didn’t know IMPASTO or RUFFE, but that’s part of the reason we do these crosswords, no? I’d heard the nickname Nobby before, but thanks everyone on here for the explanation. Nobby Stiles,eh? Now here’s an iconic image, if I can work out how to post it. https://share.google/tV8YhVp70GX8donyE
Took me ages to identify the rivulet beginning with B after TECK BACK made no sense.
I enjoyed I’M PAST O, the “Martin’s residence” (alas, we don’t get them down our road any more) and my last in, BOTTICELLI. Tip for learners: always look very hard for alternative meanings for the capitalised word at the beginning of the clue.
I think I knew the RUFFE was a fish, but the COWBOY builders I have encountered have not been particularly devious: just expensive and incompetent. One of my late uncles was a Nobby (actually Ernest) Clark, but like all his generation he had been in the military so who knows where he got it. Other traditional ones were the self explanatory Chalky White and Dusty Miller, but why was it “Smudger” Smith? (We had one at our school).
Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
Never heard that usage of Nobby. The only Nobby I can recall was the footballer Nobby Stiles.
I would describe a cowboy in the sense of the clue as slapdash, not devious. They may be devious as well, but slapdashery and corner-cutting are their distinguishing features.
This all raises the question of what cowboys say when they come across a badly botched cattle drive: “You’ve had a right old bunch of plumbers in here!”, perhaps.
Not difficult, but unfortunately I’ve thoughtlessly put in CERTIFY instead of RECTIFY (as Shirl@9). On COWBOY, I agree with William@4 – a nice story btw. Thanks Brummie and PeterO!
I managed most of this… but RUFFE, THROTTLE, EXPECTANCY, BOTTICELLI, TURN BACK and IMPASTO were beyond me! Many thanks to Brummie, and to PeterO for explaining. Onwards and upwards…
Nice gentle puzzle from Brummie and thanks for some education from Peter O – RUFFE and NOBBY.
Old age caused me to pause for 30 seconds wondering how CERTIFY was a synonym for right before the penny dropped. Like Botticelli spent too long trying to think of a painter with a D in the middle! I’m also with those who like the spoonerism!
A fairly quick, fun solve. Took me a while for sNOBBY as I associate Nobby with Hall!
Lovely crossword. The clue for VESSEL was funny and clever.
Another favourite was the clue for ONE-STAR.
William@4 – thanks for sharing that story. Very amusing – hope they get lots of business!
TomK@21 – I’m Scottish, so shouldn’t really enjoy that clip of Nobby Stiles, but how nice to see a victorious footballer dancing with joy in the sunshine among smiling friends, instead of what we normally get nowadays – staged and artificial joy among silly fireworks and ticker tape.
Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.
I thought a Spoonerism needed to be a two-word phrase that is in current use, not sure that BURN TACK is quite that. Otherwise, a lot of fun.
According to wikipedia nobby [clark] is cockney rhyming slang for shark, which fits well with what I can remember of Nobby Stiles’ style of play…
Raced through this at the beginning but then got stuck in the SW corner. I was another carelessly putting in certify at first. I liked the well-hidden FREE-FORM, the rubbish tutorial for THROTTLE, ONE-STAR for Martin’s residence, the bully and lout that was a COWBOY, and Bill the artist aka BOTTICELLI. I didn’t particularly like BURN TACK as a weird phrase.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
THROTTLE a supreme example of the problem we solvers have in identifying at which end of the clue the definition lies, I thought. I haven’t come across the RUFFE in a while, nice puzzle from Brummie today, though…
…and if I’m not guilty of advertising things, I am more familiar with NOBBY’s nuts rather than the association with Mr Clark. We tend to order them 20 packets at a time in this family…
I also mistakenly had CERTIFY, otherwise a straightforward solve. Nobby Stiles is also the only Nobby I was aware of, I’m not familiar with its Clark/military association. (Incidentally, Nobby Stiles ended up living round the corner from my grandma, and I believe she actually met him during the times she went round collecting Christian Aid donations!)
It’s not part of the Spooner contract that the words you’re coming from make a useful, let alone familiar, phrase. It happens sometimes (FLAT CAP > CAT FLAP) but mostly it’s only the phrase in the solution that is recognisable. The Guardian provided a guide here.
I’m not sure it’s relevant to this puzzle, but the guide also mentions homophones “…get into the habit of saying words aloud in your head, sometimes having to ignore your own accent.”
A masterpiece of misdirection: loved BOTTICELLI, THROTTLE and BLANK VERSE. Failed on COWBOY and entered an unparsed RIFLE for the NHO RUFFE. Nevertheless a delight from start to (DN) finish. Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.
Lovely crossword thanks Brummie. Martin I had a geography teacher called Taverner – not SCD by any chance?
[Martin @36
Your link didn’t work, at least for me. I was interested to read what they said. I think Spooner clues are only justified if they make sense either way round. There was a good example from Fed a few days ago:
From memory, Spooner’s greeting a Simpson (2,5)]
Staticman @3. I also had sneery for 12ac. I accounted for it as S (southern) nee(outdated name) and RY (short for Rylan [Clark]). I was rather pleased with my parsing and only admitted defeat when 13d had to be Botticelli!
Martin @36, muffin @39 – the link is here
Thanks Robi @42
A fairly easy solve until the last three, AFTERTASTE, RUFFE, and COWBOY, which held me up for ages, despite being in retrospect no more difficult than the rest.
I agree with many above in not finding “devious” being on the nail for that type of builder – “dodgy” would have been more like, I think.
I particularly liked being given an easy-in with so many of the upper left clues being of the “buried word” type; very often, I have a bit of a blind spot for these, but not today!
BOTTICELLI and IMPASTO (not yet, I hope, not yet…) were my ticks for today.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO.
Thanks Brummie and PeterO. Top marks for SEXISM.
I know Nobby from the Discworld, but had no idea it was associated with clerks, Clarks, or Clarkes.
Thanks Robi @42, not sure what I did there. I probably pasted in something completely unrelated!
Muffin @43 Nobody would dispute they are most pleasing when they work both ways, and Fed nailed it there, but we wouldn’t see many of them if we raised the bar that high. I’d like to say otherwise, but it would be a lack of pies.
The Nobby of my acquaintance has a surname other than Clark(e) – in his case, Nobby is short (sort of) for Nathaniel. Which is a pretty nobby handle, come to think of it.
Martin @46
I wouldn’t mourn not seeing many of them – one of two sorts of clues I rather dislike (unless, of course, they are good ones!). The other dislike is subtractive anagrams, more because I find them difficult.
PeterB@27: yes, I also spent a long time trying to think of an artist with a D.
Re: Spoonerisms. I can usually get them, but for some reason don’t like them at all. I sometimes wish they went the way of the Chinese journey – sorry, dinosaur.
William @4: I remember seeing that slogan on a builders’ van in Birmingham some years ago.
Super crossword, though I dont agree that a COWBOY is a ‘devious worker’, more an ‘incompetent worker’.
Thanks both.
HIYD @52
Yes, untrustworthy and/or incompetent rather than devious, I would have thought.
Thanks for the blog , ONE-STAR is neat and good advice from Gladys@22 , BOTTICELLI a good construction , perhaps SEXISM a reference to the special Genius puzzle linked to the 30000 .
Goodbye NOBBY Clarke – a lost episode of Callan according to my DVD set .
Struggled through as I seem to find with me and Brummie although in hindsight never sure why. Liked IMPASTO, BOTTICELLI and a few others. Thanks PeterO, and to Brummie.
Blaise@31: …. but not so well with his false teeth, perhaps.
Nothing to add, really, except to state that I’m alive and well. Haven’t posted much here lately for various reasons, none of which have anything to do with anyone but me. (After a year and a half doing five crosswords a day, I needed a month doing none, and I’m still easing out of that hiatus.) But I will note that I was unfamiliar with COWBOY in any sense other than a literal man herding cattle (or any derivative such as rhinestone cowboy, drugstore cowboy, midnight cowboy, etc.). The dishonest worker sense must be British.
Also not familiar with Nobby Clark.
My wonderful history teacher at Kings Macc back in the day was Nobby Clark. He was in the war, before getting his first at Caius, and he told us of being amongst those who liberated Belsen. His son, who was in my year, was never Nobby, so I think the military reference may be OK.
Excellent puzzle and blog – thanks to both. BOTTICELLI loi, and seriously hard to get we thought.
Loved the puzzle, but annoyed at being held up by loi 3d COWBOY. I couldn’t see why the definition would be “Devious worker”. Chambers just has descriptions that sound more like carelessness (inexperienced, unsafe, reckless, irresponsible, slapdash, inferior, shoddy) rather than deviousness. Don’t have time to read the comments yet, but no doubt someone will be able to justify it…
Apart from that, I especially enjoyed the many oblique definitions, like 14a THROTTLE (“silence”), 16a RECTIFY (“right?”), 26a BODY (“Stiff”), 1d PRETENCE (“Cover”), 4d IMPASTO (“Laying it on thick”), 7d VESSEL (“junk”), 19d ANECDOTE (“account”)
Thanks both!
I fear it’s a sad fact that while most of us in the UK grew up with ‘cowboy’ meaning a cheery and well-intentioned but incompetent workman, the prevalence of scam culture has latterly given him a more sinister edge.
I enjoyed this, having picked it up after 11:30pm and finished just before midnight, which is pretty quick for me. Found myself on the setter’s wavelength for once, or my GK coincided with Brummie’s perhaps. Particularly pleased to have remembered the RUFFE, but to be fair not until I had two of the three crossers. 😀
The “Rivulet Sailing Course” was a touch of brilliance! (If Billy@30 or Muffin@39 had been at one of the Rev Spooner’s sermons I can imagine them calling out from the back of the church, “there’s no such phrase as shoving leopard” before storming out in a huff.)
Thanks to Brummie and PeterO.
I had a fairly similar time to SH 61 with this last night.
Am I right in thinking that anyone with the surname Williams in the military may also be called “Bungie” (soft g) for some reason?
Agree with my namesake and others on COWBOY – this really held me up. The last cowboy builder I encountered laid turf directly onto concrete. He at first insisted he’d removed the concrete, then became aggressive and claimed he’d never agreed to remove the concrete, and that it was standard practice to lay turf on concrete – if the grass was dying it just needed a bit of TLC!
“Bully” and “lout”, certainly – but I’m not sure the lies had the subtlety required to be described as “devious”.
I like crosswords that dwell in a world of whimsical wordplay, and that includes spoonerisms. I find them hard to get without some crossers, but I love them, and I second sheffield hatter’s comment at #61.
I also put great emphasis on good surfaces, which is why I’m surprised that I liked 13d BOTTICELLI – a neat construction, but a less than stellar surface. (Perhaps the last part of the answer sold me.)
Thanks Brummie for an excellent workout, and PeterO for the much-needed blog.
My music teacher was Mr Clark – and universally known as Nobby. No military connection…
This crossword was the sort of lazy, inchaote, over-constructed and unsatisfying drek that I’m used to finding in The Times, but appalled to see in The Graun, where many of the answers are inferrable only by finding the definition. Especially appalling examples: 24a (‘name-dropping’ – FFS!); 26A ‘Boy’ – really?; 14a just nonsense; 7d (‘husband’s’ – yawnsome twaddle)
The setter should either retire or gen-up on standards.