The puzzle may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26634.
Most of the CDs and DDs I thought above average, with the notable exception of 15D ALEXANDER.
| Across | ||
| 1 | APTITUDE |
Tied up at work acquiring skill (8)
An anagram (‘work’) of ‘tied up at’. |
| 5 | TENSES |
Just one of them is perfect (6)
Cryptic definition. |
| 9 | PENGUINS |
Using new enclosure initially for birds (8)
A charade of PEN (‘enclosure’) plus GUINS, an anagram (‘new’) of ‘using’, with ‘initially’ indicating the order of the particles. |
| 10 | FATIMA |
Dad having lost her, I get mum to find her (6)
A charade of FAT[her] (‘dad’) without HER (‘having lost her’) plus ‘I’ plus MA (‘mum’). |
| 12 | AD LIB |
Actor’s instruction to play As You Like It? (2-3)
Cryptic definition. |
| 13 | UNADORNED |
Dressed — or nude and natural (9)
An anagram (‘dressed’) of ‘or nude and’. |
| 14 | CATCHES A CRAB |
Fisherman who does will be more pleased than the boatman (7,1,4)
Double definition, sort of (to catch a crab: of a rower, to make an unintentionally deep stroke, with the risk of upsetting the boat). |
| 18 | SINGLE-MINDED |
Wholly dedicated to remaining unmarried? (6-6)
Cryptic sesquidef. |
| 21 | RESIDENTS |
Tiredness affected the inhabitants (9)
AN anagram (‘affected’) of ‘tiredness’. |
| 23 | ADDER |
Sliding calculator (5)
Definition and allusion. |
| 24 | BRAHMS |
He composed music to support RN vessel (6)
A charade of BRA (‘support’) plus HMS (‘RN vessel’). |
| 25 | DEADBEAT |
Whacked a lazy so-and-so (8)
Double definition (the first usually separated into two words). |
| 26 | DREARY |
Gloomy feature in arid surroundings (6)
An envelope (‘in … surroundings’) of EAR (‘feature’) in DRY (‘arid’). |
| 27 | STARTERS |
Courses for beginners (8)
Double definition. |
| Down | ||
| 1 | APPEAL |
How’s that for charm? (6)
Double definition. Cricket, lovely cricket. |
| 2 | TANGLE |
Contend with an involved situation (6)
Double definition. |
| 3 | THUMBNAIL |
It’s extremely handy for this sort of sketch (9)
Definition and cryptic allusion. |
| 4 | DENOUNCEMENT |
Conclusion is to include North Carolina in the criticism (12)
An envelope (‘to include’) of NC (‘North Carolina’) in DENOUEMENT (‘conclusion’). |
| 6 | ERATO |
Uplifting holy books are an inspiration to poets (5)
A reversal (‘uplifting’) of OT (‘holy books’) plus ‘are’. Erato is the muse of lyric poetry. |
| 7 | SPINNERS |
Spiders and flies? (8)
Double definition, the second being a reference to fly fishing. |
| 8 | STANDS BY |
Is ready and gives support (6,2)
Double definition. |
| 11 | MAKE ENDS MEET |
Introduce objectives to live within one’s income (4,4,4)
Definition and literal interpretation. |
| 15 | ALEXANDER |
A great man in history (9)
Ouch. |
| 16 | ASCRIBED |
Gave credit to writer in the present era (8)
An envelope (‘in’) of SCRIBE (‘writer’) in AD (‘the present era’). |
| 17 | IN A STATE |
Anxious when visiting America? (2,1,5)
Definition and cryptic allusion. What if the person were going to Washington DC? |
| 19 | ADHERE |
Stick unusually hard with twice the initial efficiency (6)
An anagram (‘unusually’) of ‘hard’ plus EE (‘twice the initial Efficiency’). |
| 20 | GRATIS |
Soldiers holding deserter without charge (6)
An envelope (‘holding’) of RAT (‘deserter’) in GIS (‘soldiers’). |
| 22 | DEMUR |
Object is for doctor to take in bird unable to fly (5)
An envelope (‘to take in’) of EMU (‘bird unable to fly’) in DR (‘doctor’). |
Thanks Rufus and PeterO
My favourites were DREARY, DENOUNCEMENT, APPEAL, AD-LIB, ASCRIBED & IN A STATE – * PeterO, I’m fine with that solution – as far as I am concerned they are all “states” and I would be in a state if I ever visited the USA because of all the crazy people running around with guns over there. Plus, there is no cricket!
New for me were CATCH A CRAB (rowing) and SPINNER (fishing lure/fly).
Thanks to Rufus and PeterO. I needed help from PeterO to parse the cricket element in APPEAL – and I could not believe ALEXANDER was correct – but otherwise this puzzle went very quickly.
Thanks PeterO and Rufus. Good start for the week. Learnt parsing for 14a.
PeterO was in too much pain to point this out, but for anyone who is new to this sort of thing, and confused by the ALEXANDER clue…the (only vaguely) cryptic element is that he was ‘Alexander the Great’, and hence ‘great man in history’. Obvious to nearly everyone, I know, but someone might be scratching their head.
Not much here to get excited by, I thought.
Thanks PeterO – loved the ‘cryptic sesquidef’.
Thank you, Peter O. Several of the clues required some grey matter exercise, which isn’t always the case on a Monday. It took me a long time to work out 5a. Nice one, Rufus.
Thanks PeterO and Rufus. Enjoyed Appeal and Brahms. Does anyone else object to spinner/flies? I’m not an angler, but to me spinner and fly are either/or, and far from synonyms.
Thanks Rufus and PeterO
Quite entertaining. I liked the nicely concealed anagram for APTITUDE, PENGUINS, and, in particular, DENOUNCEMENT.
I did think of ALEXANDER straight away, but din’t enter it until I had some confirming crossers!
Thanks Rufus and PeterO,
It took me a long time, too, to work out TENSES! I wrote in BRAHMS without thinking, then was surprised to find it would parse. The ‘sliding calculator’ and DEADBEAT, among others, were good.
I always feel anxious when in Washington DC, the clue made me laugh.
Gary @6, spinner for fly was new to me, so I looked it up in the OCED and two of the definitions are ‘4 a a real or artificial fly for esp. trout-fishing. b revolving bait.’
Cookie @8: on reflection, we may have put too much thought into 5a.
Gary @6: I agree with you. A spinner is certainly not a fly – the former is often quite substantial, the latter quite dainty, and the fishing technique is quite different, I believe. I’m not sure the insertion of a question mark in the clue is sufficient compensation.
Apologies for crossing, and thanks for the clarification Cookie @9.
Have appreciated fifteensquared for some time but never previously contributed, so hallo.
Always enjoy the Monday romp to gird up for the rest of the week’s challenges, and (unusually) managed to parse the whole of this one without your help. Today, I admired TENSES, SPINNERS, and BRAHMS (the last being very late in as I had dismissed HMS as being part of any word).
Thanks to Rufus and to all the bloggers.
Cookie @9 – Yes, that doesn’t surprise me. I guess I’m only coming to grips with the idea that a dictionary definition is adequate justification for a clue, even if ‘reality’ is quite the opposite!
Good morning, all, and thanks PeterO.
I’m firmly with the spinners ? flies group, although there are some fishing flies with ‘spinner’ in their name. See here
Nice anag TIREDNESS/RESIDENTS.
Otherwise, high speed fare from Rufus to set off the week.
Nice week, all.
[Not specifically relevant to this Crossword, but today’s Guardian features clarification of the applicability of the Style Guide’s provisions. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/27/when-crossword-clues-clash-with-the-guardian-style-guide ]
I actually got stuck on ALEXANDER, I was trying to make an anagram that included Alfred.
@ Van Winkle – thanks for the link.
>>>> “I am afraid I missed it but I certainly would have edited it if I had spotted it,” said Stephenson.
Says it all. 8(
[Limeni
I had an Email back from Hugh Stephenson adding his apologies to Moley’s for the contentious clue in last week’s Quiptic.]
There’s more to 7d than has been said so far.
Spinner is actually a stage in the life of the mayfly ( and possibly other aquatic flies, I don’t know).
A mayfly starts as a nymph(living underwater) emerges from the water to become a dun, then when it wings are fully developed becomes a spinner. It the flies off to mate, lay its eggs. Afterwards the spent and dying mayfly spinners lie on the water providing a food source for fish, especially trout. The flyfisherman uses an artificial fly, known as a spinner, to imitate the spent mayfly.
This is completely different to the metal revolving lures, also known as spinners, that imitate small fish.
Sorry if I bored you!
Thanks Rufus and PeterO. Straightforward but enjoyable. I loved TENSES and SINGLE MINDED, but others seemed to go in while I wasn’t fully paying attention, and next thing I knew it was all done (ALEXANDER, IN A STATE, STARTERS et al).
Last week I composed a response incorporating all the solutions to Rufus’s puzzle. Some fellow posters hereabouts were unwise enough to express their appreciation, and even to request more. (By “request” I mean something along these lines: “I suppose I don’t mind if you do it again; after all, I don’t have to read it”.)
Anyway, I haven’t done so this time but I did post the other day in response to Puck’s splendid alphabetical jigsaw. By the time I got round to it though, most contributors had had their say and left the scene, so here it is again (please forgive the ego, but I did wrestle over this for a while):
Araucarian beauty, completion delayed … ended finally: great happiness, indeed joy! Keenly let me now offer praise: quality, reachable solutions till ultimate victory won. Ximenean yet zesty.
I’ll get me coat.
PMS @19 – not boring at all, many thanks for that.
6a TENSES — Just one of them is perfect? Aren’t there perfect, future perfect and past perfect?
1961B@20 – I enjoyed that!
Thanks both. I needed to come here to discover the fly fishing link to spinners
[Oddly, thinking of fly fishing, I was listening to a recording of Norman Lumsden singing only yesterday. After he retired as an opera singer, he played J.R. Hartley in the Yellow Pages fly fishing advert]
1961Blanchflower@20: Admirable! I occasionally wrestle over composing clever clues (such as one for Schrodinger that revolves around cats dead or alive), but it’s hard work.
I managed to complete today’s Rufus, which I often don’t do because of the tangential nature of some of his clueing. Add me to list who queried ALEXANDER, but I liked GRATIS, PENGUINS, and ADDER. And MAKE ENDS MEET now I see the literal meaning (thanks PeterO).
Thanks Rufus and PeterO
[The comment about editing the microcephalic clue if he’d spotted it is pretty rich given that the online+paper and pdf versions of Saturday’s prize had different clues (with the same answer) for 13D and 19D. How come that wasn’t spotted?]
I thought ALEXANDER a bit naff but on consideration it’s rather better than I first thought. A little harder than usual for me. The initial skim through only gave the odd anagram and it took me far too long to get TENSES which was my LOI.
Overall,rather good.
Thanks Rufus.
It’s actually a very groaning pun, but only once you get it. Of course there are other great men in history, but I suppose we should expect SOME sort of cryptic even in a Rufus puzzle!
hh
Thanks Rufus and PeterO
Actually thought that this was at the high level of the Rufus scale. Even though it was still solved relatively quickly, he made one work for the answers in quite a few today. Finished with three of those – SPINNER, CATCHES A CRAB (which I thought was when a rower caught the water as he/she was bringing the oar back from the stroke) and the tricky TENSES (as the last one in).
ALEXANDER went straight in for me without too much thought at all – it just was – re-read his wiki article, and he was certainly a fascinating character!
A number of very entertaining clues, including MAKE ENDS MEET, SINGLE-MINDED, the clever anagram of APTITUDE and of course TENSES.
This was one of Rufus’s better ones, full of simplicity and elegance. All pretty straightforward except that it took me ages to think of TENSES.
Thanks to Rufus and PeterO
1961B @20, that is fitting praise for an Araubetical, I especially like the ending ‘Ximenean yet zesty’!
Should say the ‘sliding calculator’ is an old chestnut.
Job @12
Welcome. Now that you have stuck your head above the parapet, I hope that you will continue to do so, and enrich the blog with your take on the puzzles.
PMS @19
Thanks for your input – no apology needed.
Cookie @31– thanks.
Writing a 26 word post with words beginning from A to Z was surprisingly tricky, X in particular. “Ximenean” was a rather appropriate gift!
MAKE ENDS MEET is much harder if you go through life convinced that the central word is ONES, I have found.
Like others, I too found this a more entertaining Rufus than usual. Thought that 1a set the tone nicely with a prettily concealed anagram. And Trailman@35:Yes, doesn’t it make it harder to complete! Me too…..
PMS @19 – fascinating, thank you.
[muffin @18 – thanks for the info.]
Trailman @ 35 – Agreed re ONES.
A nice elegant Rufus puzzle but one shouldn’t overlook Valentine’s post @22.
There is indeed not ‘just one’ perfect tense!
Actually, I was told this afternoon that ‘perfect’ is not a tense.
It is an ‘aspect’.
English grammar has three aspects: progressive/continuous, perfect and unmarked.
And so, while 5ac may seem a nice clue (appreciated by many), it is unfortunately not right what Rufus suggests here.
I solved this last night, but only got around to coming here just now. Finished everything except DEADBEAT, which for some reason I didn’t quite understand until I came here. (British colloquial usage is in play there.)
I also quibbled at the “tense” clue, since the past perfect (I had eaten), future perfect (I will have eaten), and present perfect (I have eaten) are all perfect tenses.
And I agree with the blog that visitors to Washington, D.C. (and Puerto Rico, Guam, USVI, Northern Marianas, and American Samoa) are in America but not in a state.
–M.
mr penny @40 et al: I seem to recall a pluperfect, too, from my Latin and Greek classes.
drofle @ 38 et al: I thought that too, but dismissed it fairly quickly (despite its being a Rufus) as “ones” was also in the clue; this thought then led to the correct answer.
Thanks Peter and Rufus.
Of course Rufus knows that there other other ‘perfects’, however it is clear that only one of them is PERFECT per se.
23ac may be an “old chestnut” but as a relative newcomer I entered it initially as “ruler”, having used a slide rule at school.
That is to ignore the inevitable ‘Rufus cryptic’ element however.
So for 23a Three among them are perfect!
Does anyone have an opinion on ‘He is risen’ or ‘they are gone’?
Thanks all
I failed to get 5ac but otherwise very straightforward.
Thanks all
I failed to get 5ac but otherwise very straightforward.