Enjoyable but not too difficult from Paul today. I liked the two long across clues, as well as 1dn and 6dn.
Across
1 In a word, very long joke is in a sense laid out (14)
SESQUIPEDALIAN
=”In [or of] a word, very long”. QUIP=”joke” inside (a sense laid)*
8 Happy with goal, flip (5)
UPEND
=”flip”. UP=”Happy” plus END=”goal”
9 Meeting place has unconvincing charm, meeting Jack (8)
JUNCTION
=”Meeting place”. UNCTION=”unconvincing charm”, after J[ack]
11 Indian city in stupid drawing (7)
DIAGRAM
=”drawing”. AGRA=”Indian city” in DIM=”stupid”
12 Unsuitable intro erased from funny peculiar copy (7)
REPLICA
“copy”. U[nsuitable] removed from (peculiar)*
13 Into drink, relatives cut down as should he? (5)
ALKIE
=”he” [who should cut down on drink]. ALE=”drink”, around KI[n]=”relatives cut down”
15 Primitive weapon used to catch snake is cheating (9)
SWINDLING
=”cheating”. SLING=”Primitive weapon”, around WIND=”snake”
17 Provocative material including first of data on a monster flagged up? (3,6)
RED DRAGON
=”a monster flagged up” on the Welsh flag. RED RAG=”Provocative material”, around D[ata], plus ON
20 Author returns to pen good, classical letter (5)
SIGMA
=”classical letter”. [Martin or Kingsley] AMIS, reversed around G[ood]
21 Model is old enough (7)
EXAMPLE
=”Model”. EX=”old” plus AMPLE=”enough”
23,4 Pussy warmer in bed? A wonderful thing! (3,4,7)
THE CATS PYJAMAS
=”A wonderful thing”; cryptically =”Pussy warmer in bed”
25 A treetop make short work of it (8)
OPERETTA
=”short work”. (A treetop)*
26 An elderly lady, Ms Widdecombe denied, pissed off (5)
ANGRY
=”pissed off”. AN plus GR[ann]Y=”elderly lady” minus Ann Widdecombe
27 See 26 (5-9)
CROSS-REFERENCE
The clue being a REFERENCE to ANGRY=CROSS
Down
1 Gait that’s broken at high speed? (5,7)
SOUND BARRIER
=”that’s broken at high speed”. “Gait” sounds like ‘gate’, or in crosswordese, SOUND BARRIER
2 Going up in aeroplane, I see an Italian city (5)
SIENA
=”Italian city”. Hidden reversed in “[aeropl]ANE I S[ee]”
3 As opposed to the “upon Tyne” of Newcastle, might Durham be pants? (9)
UNDERWEAR
=”pants”. Durham being UNDER the WEAR river.
4 See 23
5 Roman coins red, an odd couple (7)
DENARII
=”Roman coins”. (red an)* plus II=two in Roman numerals=”couple”
6 Abatement in partner of la ewe? (3-2)
LET-UP
=”Abatement”. LE is the masculine definite article in French, as opposed to “la”, and a TUP is a male sheep, as opposed to a EWE.
7 I commit a crime wearing a medal it’s painful (9)
AGONISING
=”painful”. I SIN=”I commit a crime”, inside A GONG=”a medal”
10 Many get disease primarily from glands, unfortunately, in noted epidemic (7,5)
GANGNAM STYLE
=”noted [as in musical notes] epidemic”. (Many get glan[d]s)*, with d[isease] removed
14 One snatching another fish and eaten up (9)
KIDNAPPER
=”One snatching another”. KIPPER=”fish” around rev(AND)
16 Decay beginning to show in hideous couple (9)
DISREPAIR
=”Decay”. S[how] inside DIRE PAIR=”hideous couple”
18 Bigger kitchen utensil, by the sound of it (7)
GREATER
=”Bigger”. Sounds like ‘grater’=”kitchen utensil, by the sound of it”
19 Less than my fair share? I couldn’t agree more! (3,4)
NOT HALF
=”I couldn’t agree more!”; cryptically =”Less than my fair share”
22 On course, what’s expected is a romantic location (5)
PARIS
=”a romantic location”. PAR=”On [a golf] course, what’s expected”, plus IS
24 Element into pornography, but not going down (5)
ARGON
=”Element”. Hidden reversed in “por[NORGA]phy”
Thanks manehi. You’re right, but it had twists and tangles, all of them enjoyable: for me last in GANGNAM STYLE was a hoot. 1A and 1D went in pretty quickly, as were UNDERWEAR and LET UP that were giveaways for those familiar with Paul’s methods. As for 23,4 that was a wonderful thing.
Completed.
Thanks Paul and manehi
I found this surprisingly easy – both for Friday and for a Paul. UNDERWEAR was my favourite. I don’t know where idredged up “gangnam style” from!
Thanks Manehi.
Failed on GANGNAM STYLE. Couldn’t sort out the anagram and didn’t recognise the answer anyway.
Favourites were REPLICA & EXAMPLE, and loved the CROSS REFERENCE gag.
Nice one Paul – have a nice weekend all.
Thanks, manehi.
Pretty straightforward but lots of fun. Couldn’t have been by anyone else but Paul, with the sprinkling of ribaldry and the trademark analogy clue at 3d.
A good variety of clues here. My favourites were GANGNAM STYLE (great surface and cryptic definition), CROSS-REFERENCE (nice one), and the splendidly economical (but characteristically suggestive) EXAMPLE.
Thanks, manehi. I must be going down with something. I normally breeze through Paul’s puzzles or, at worst, make steady progress but this was bitterly contested the whole way. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it though!
The surface of 24 was, even for Paul, “adventurous”.
Thanks manehi and Paul. Not too difficult – last in was GANGNAM STYLE after a lot of brain-wracking. At first I thought there was another Guardian typo (as earlier this week) with clues 26a and 27a, but quickly realised all was OK.
Not entirely happy with how the Guardian’s online crossword handles 26/27 – if you click on 27, it brings up the clue for 26, which makes it difficult to realise that they are two separate clues (of course, this is partly me complaining for being so gullible in the first place, and arguably if it wasn’t set up like that, it would be a spoiler).
The carping first. Durham under the Wear? There was me thinking the ancient city was on a rock above it.
Never heard the phrase in 23, 4 either but that must just be my sheltered life; I’d tried WHISKERS at 4 and ran out of space. And I will now spell ALKIE with a K not C.
But much respect for a host of others: the cunning 27, Paul’s nod to pop culture at 10, the franglais sheep in 6, and my personal favourite, Ms W uttering a bad word at 26.
Thanks manehi and Paul. Trailman – don’t forget that Durham is a county as well as a city, so could be said to be under the river. I’ll check it over for you tomorrow when I attend the Lumiere festival which will entail visiting both county and city!
A lovely Friday treat. don’t ask me to pick my favourites, my lunch hour is nearly up.
Thanks to Paul for the fun and Manehi for the blog.
Well, I found this difficult, not knowing 1a and being misled by the faulty (?) highlighting of 26 & 27 together in the online version. I was going to complain that ‘ANGRY CROSS-REFERENCE’ was not a recognised phrase. 🙁 Next time maybe I should look at my paper!
Thanks manehi; I liked GANGNAM STYLE and SOUND BARRIER in particular.
I’ve got to be honest, knowing Paul, my initial thought on reading 23,4 was THE DOGS B……S until I realised that it was a letter too many and didn’t fit the clue. But, apart from that…..
Thanks all
Quite enjoyable. Like trailman @9 I wasn’t very familiar with ‘pyjamas’rather than whiskers.
Last in was 1d.
Thanks Paul and manehi. Great workout. Never thought I’d see 10d in a crossword puzzle.
Tried to make omega work before remembering SIGMA. Looking forward to the Prize Puzzle blog
so I can find out what the Enigmatist was all about.
Cheers…
After my first read through of the clues I thought this was going to be more difficult than recent Paul puzzles, but once I made a little headway the rest of the answers came quickly enough. JUNCTION was my LOI after THE CAT’S PYJAMAS. I needed to double-check the anagram fodder for 1ac before I was sure of the spelling of SESQUIPEDALIAN.
As Sue@11 hinted, there are too many good clues to single any out.
As far as the way the clue for 27ac is shown to the right of the grid in the online version, if you scroll down below the grid and look at all of the clues the correct clue for 27ac is shown.
BTW I thought ‘example’ was a beautiful clue.
I suppose we have Newcastle-under-Lyme but maybe that’s the tree rather than a river.
Very enjoyable: COD the populist 10d for me.
Thanks all.
Well I found this difficult for a Paul.
Very enjoyable though and some great clues.
The online representation of 26 and 27A did suggest they were one single clue. This was more than misleading, it was just wrong! That did hold me up for some time as I’d checked the PDF version but chose to trust the “online”.
I was also a DOGS B*****CKS man for a while. However the fact that it wouldn’t fit and didn’t really warm a PUSSY in bed finally dissuaded me. (Never heard of the PYJAMAS phrase before though)
Thanks to manehi and Paul
Thanks – hard but not too hard. Some very satisfying clues.
As an opera buff, I jibbed at the definition of operetta as a short work. Operettas are normally characterised by their lightness rather than by their shortness, and some are at least as long as ‘grand’ operas. But I see Paul has Chambers on his side.