(Please click here for this same blog but with a picture quiz added. Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.) A fun crossword with nice misdirections, and surfaces. A sort of Paulesque mini-thread ties 5, 8, 24, 14, 16, 1down, 15, 9 and part of 6, or perhaps I’m reading too much into it. Thanks to Paul. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Hence failure, nothing less, is grave (6)
SOLEMN : SO(hence;thus) + “lemon”(a failure;something that doesn’t work properly) minus(… less) “o”(letter signifying 0;nothing).
4 Incidents where git punches crusty things behind back of cafe (8)
EPISODES : [ SOD(a git;an obnoxious person) contained in(punches) PIES(pastries with crusts) ] placed after(behind, in an across clue) the last letter of(back of) “cafe “.
9 Hollow sculpture, perhaps, encapsulating a reflection of the early afternoon? (6)
ARMPIT : ART(an example of which;perhaps is a sculpture) containing(encapsulating) reversal of(reflection of) [I PM](a time in the early afternoon, 1 pm, with the Roman numeral substitution).
10 Grass around broom not entirely swept back, revealing plant
ROSEBUSH : RUSH(long grass) containing(around) reversal of(… swept back) “besom”(a broom made of a bundle of twigs tied to a handle) minus its last letter(not entirely).
11 Argentinian leader calls God often when swimming in papal palace (6,8)
CASTEL GANDOLFO : Anagram of(… when swimming) [ the 1st letter of(… leader) “Argentinian ” + CALLS GOD OFTEN].
Answer: Summer palace and retreat used by the Pope.
13 What may bring the roof down for the audience gets closer for a writer? (7,3)
SEALING WAX : Homophone of(… for the audience) “ceiling whacks”(what may bring the roof down, physically).
Defn: What’s used to close a letter, physically.
14 Mistake that may be reversed? (4)
BOOB : A palindrome(… that may be reversed).
16 Warmer 14 (4)
MUFF : Double defn: 1st: … for the hands; and 2nd: Answer to 14 across. A bungled attempt, say, to make a shot or a catch in a game.
18 Chiefly, bread found in skip wrapped in newspaper less perfect (10)
DOMINANTLY : [ NAN(Indian bread) contained in(found in) OMIT(to skip;to not consider) ] contained in(wrapped in) “daily”(a newspaper issued, well, daily) minus(less) “AI”(first class;perfect;A1, with the Roman numeral substitution).
21 Red, indigo’s second, then brown one, perhaps? (8,6)
CARDINAL NUMBER : CARDINAL(a deep red;scarlet) + the 2nd letter of(…’s second) “indigo” plus(then) UMBER(a brown colour).
Defn: An example of which;perhaps, is “1”. Well constructed clue, with 3 colours mentioned.
23 Doctor having filled bottle, dropping lid in coat (8)
LAMBSKIN : MB(abbrev. for the Latin for Bachelor of Medicine;a doctor) contained in(having filled) “flask”(a bottle with a narrow neck) minus its 1st letter(dropping lid) + IN.
24 See 8 down
25 Stupidity, as partners stop briefly to punch hooter (8)
NONSENSE : [ N,S(abbrev. for “north” and “south” respectively, indicating partners in a bridge game) + “end”(to stop) minus its last letter(briefly) ] contained in(to punch) NOSE(slang for which is “hooter”).
26 Turn both taps, darling, then scrub back (6)
CHANGE : C,H(abbrev. for “cold” and “hot” respectively, as displayed on your water taps) + “angel”(a term of endearment for your darling) minus its last letter(then scrub back).
Down
1 Bird that’s smoked (4)
SHAG : Double defn: 1st: A cormorant; and 2nd: Shredded coarse tobacco.
2 Priest hosts wicked dance (7)
LAMBADA : LAMA(a Tibetan priest) containing(hosts) BAD(wicked).
3 Keep the blue and brown, pocketing one (8)
MAINTAIN : MAIN(like “the blue”, a term for the sea) plus(and) TAN(a light brown) containing(pocketing) I(Roman numeral for “one”).
5 ”Bum”, “fart”, “poo” in an act of irreverence (11)
PROFANATION : Anagram of(Bum)“FART”, “POO” IN AN. Well-constructed clue, mentioning 3 words, each of which is, or can be used in, an act of irreverence.
6 Sherry emptied, drinking went fast (6)
SPEEDY : “Sherry ” minus its inner letters(emptied) containing(drinking) PEED(past tense of “go”, as in “I have to go, urgently”).
7 Gloom and doom with this blue mood, not married sadly (6-1)
DOUBLE-O : Anagram of(… sadly) [“blue mood” minus(not) “m”(abbrev. for “married”) ].
Defn: What the words “gloom” and “doom” have – and “mood” too.
8,24 across Stink in so much holy mess with setters’ lack of sophistication (9,6)
SCHOOLBOY HUMOUR : B.O.(abbrev. for “body odour”;a stink from an unwashed body) contained in(in) anagram of(… mess) SO MUCH HOLY plus(with) OUR(possessive pronoun of “setters”, self-referentially).
12 Soldiers in line go to take a battering ram (11)
LEGIONARIES : Anagram of(… take a battering) LINE GO + ARIES(the Ram, the first sign of the zodiac in astrology).
13 Mark of a writer comes in novel, nothing left to hide (9)
SEMICOLON : Anagram of(… novel) COMES IN containing(to hide) [O(letter signifying 0;nothing) + L(abbrev. for “left”)].
Defn: …, used as punctuation.
15 Belittle liberal mad to enter fight over leadership in House (3-5)
BAD-MOUTH : Anagram of(liberal) MAD contained in(to enter) BOUT(a fight, eg. in the boxing ring) placed above(over, in a down clue) the 1st letter of(leadership in) “House “.
17 Lift title that’s beneath pro boxer (7)
FOREMAN : Reversal of(Lift, in a down clue) NAME(a title) placed below(that’s beneath, in a down clue) FOR(pro;in favour of).
Answer: George, once World Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
19 Secure community housing that is beginning to deteriorate (3,4)
TIE DOWN : TOWN(a community) containing(housing) [ I.E.(abbrev. for “id est”;that is) + the 1st letter of(beginning to) “deteriorate “].
20 Paper towels initially put out (6)
TISSUE : The 1st letter of(… initially) “towels ” + ISSUE(to put out;to cause to emerge).
22 Available, some beer freshly served up (4)
FREE : Hidden in(some) reversal of(… served up) “beer freshly “.
(Please do NOT post hereinbelow any comment relating to the picture quiz. Thank you.)
I failed to solve 16a and 17d.
My favourites were 11a, 7d, 8/24, 13a, 12d.
Thank you scchua and Paul.
Thanks to Paul and scchua. Think you missed the word ‘mad’ out of the clue for 15 and you may want to add ‘part of 10’ to your mini-theme.
This must be Paul’s response to comments that his recent puzzles have lacked some of his trademark 8,24 🙂
I loved this. Too many favorite clues to list, although PROFANATION was the one that made me smile the most broadly.
I’d never heard of a bird called a shag, but of course that’s what it had to be, given boob, muff, and all the rest.
The current pope is an Argentine, which adds a (probably intended) extra &littish flavor to 11 across.
Great stuff from Paul as usual. Loved PROFANATION, SEALING WAX, SCHOOLBOY HUMOUR and many others. Thanks to him and to scchua.
Thanks Aoxomoxoa. Clue for 15 corrected.
Thanks sschua. Good 8,24 from Paul, showing he hasn’t gone totally serious on us after last week’s Armenian genocide puzzle.
mrpenney – you should read Christopher Isherwood’s poem The Common Cormorant.
Very nice. Paul at his best. Took a while to break in but steady – and fun – after that. Well – mainly. Didn’t know 11a – guessed GANDOLFO from the crossers and available letters but misspelt CASTEL – so that caused a problem for 12d until fixed.
Many thanks to Paul – also to scchua for the hereinabove blog.
@mrpenney #3 In Australian parlance “to feel like a shag on a rock” means to feel alone and isolated.
Lynton Crosby used the expression after his Boris for Mayor campaign (ie saying that Tory Central office didn’t leave him feeling like that) and raised a few eyebrows.
I agree that this was probably Paul’s riposte to those of us who have been saying that he was losing his smutty touch. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although SHAG is clearly the correct answer for 1dn I would argue that “swan” also fits the definition and the wordplay because Swan matches smoke once they have been ignited, and you can read “that’s smoked” as “that has smoked”. I think it is a more tenuous answer, but such wordplay isn’t completely unknown in crosswordland.
Loathed it. Not big, not clever, just juvenile and tiresome. Obviously I’m a lone voice so don’t bother to argue with me – I appreciate that I’m out of step.
JollySwagman @ 8 “to feel like a shag on a rock” ,……. not in the UK it doesn’t 😉
Thanks Paul; good to see that you’re still exhibiting your SCHOOLBOY HUMOUR.
Thanks sccua; I particularly liked CARDINAL NUMBER & DOUBLE-O.
Thanks, scchua
Splendid puzzle from Paul. It took me quite a while to get properly started – there are some pretty intricate charades in here – but lots of smiles as it started to yield.
Lots of good clues; my favourites were CARDINAL NUMBER, CHANGE, PROFANATION (wonderfully &littish), BAD MOUTH and, of course, SCHOOLBOY HUMOUR: one of Paul’s trademarks, not to everyone’s taste but very much to mine. As Abraham Lincoln is supposed to have said of a book he was asked to review: “Those who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like”.
Would James Bond have found it a coincidence that Double-O appears at clue number 7?
Of course a good puzzle from one of my top Guardian setters, but still a few niggles.
11a ‘Argentinian leader’ is wrong; 5d puerile, it’s as if Paul is ‘forced’ to be like this when he would rather not; 8,24d ‘mess’ is wrong.
Overall, there seemed to be a lot of subtractions to make the surfaces work, so it felt ‘a bit bitty’! 😀
I have been ill with the pneumonia, which was viral, and I had to go on oxygen!
HH @ 15 Sorry you’ve been ill. I had pneumonia once and it’s not pleasant so I hope you’re feeling better now.
I don’t understand your objections to 11 and 8,24 – could you elaborate please?
[So glad you are better hedgehoggy, and back. Mrs hedgehoggy must have been worried.]
Enjoyed this, but found it pretty tough to finish. Spent too long trying to justify MERCENARIES. Last in was DOMINANTLY, and (I’m ashamed to admit) CASTEL GANDOLFO was unfamiliar to me. Liked EPISODES, ARMPITS and PROFANATION.
Thanks to Paul and scchua
I loved this – 5dn was glorious. Thanks to Paul and scchua.
Andrew beat me to the reference to the common cormorant or shag poem. The Latin name is Phalacrocorax aristotelis – does anyone know where the reference to Aristotle comes from?
HH – why is A for Argentinian leader wrong? Glad you are better – both my children had bacterial pneumonia when they were young, and at least you can blast that away with antibiotics.
You are so kind! It has been really horrid. I’m still really really tired, but it’s nice to be out of bed, off the sofa etc.
Argentinian leader: well, I think it is because the first word is an adjective that setters and others think the A can be implied, but of course, as the word is only an adjective in the surface, and therefore not really an adjective, and not really a word ( 😀 ) it’s the same as AXXXX leader, which doesn’t give A at all. You need the possessive apostrophe, I think, for it to be proper.
‘Mess’ is a noun, and the same things are true here, where the anag fodder XXXXXXXXXX whatever, is just jumbled letters. The noun doesn’t imply a movement so it isn’t really right. ‘Mess of’ would be okay for instance.
I think the setter Paul is well aware of these things though, and only does it through laziness because he knows the Guardian editor will not question these ‘bad practices’. It’s strange though, because he has so many ‘good practices!
HH
Thanks Paul and scchua.
This was hard going, but enjoyable. First put Skua (skewer) at 1d, thinking the bird was being barbecued.
I like Gazza’s suggestion of 007! ARMPIT, DOMINANTLY, CARDINAL NUMBER, CHANGE and BAD-MOUTH among others were good.
Like AndyB@9 I kept thinking SWAN because SHAG-cormorant was new to me. Also, I could not parse the D-LY in DOMINANTLY, the IN in LAMBSKIN, or the EN in NONSENSE and kept misspelling LEGIONARIES but the solutions did emerge. Thanks to Paul and to scchua for the parsing.
Ian Payn @10 You are not alone. I too find Paul’s use of regressive humour detracts from his puzzles. Apparently there are many who will be giggling at the insertion of perjorative terms for female genitals in a crossword. Hopefully the confession that this is schoolboy humour signals an end to it.
Cookie – “skewer” is exactly what skuas try to do to you if you trespass anywhere near their nests.
Ian Payn,if its any consolation I didn’t particularly like it either.Three times this week I’ve had to resort to this blog. Must be getting old.I actually won the Saturday prize Xword many years ago
Welcome back HH! I wondered where you had got to.
Despite all the SCHOOLBOY HUMOUR I didn’t notice the double meaning of MUFF. But I don’t notice themes, ninas . . .
Rather more difficult than recent Paul puzzles, I thought but rather enjoyable for all that. What to say about smutty humour? So long as it remains merely smutty I don’t see the problem. Personally I find I find it quite amusing.
I’ll be missing for a few days as I’m off to the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.
Thanks Paul.
Thanks Paul and Scchua
Hard going in places but some good penny-dropping moments. Good misdirections, as already noted, and some clever cluing generally. I suspect this may be more a celebration than a confession which may not please the bowlers among us, but there is no great harm in a bit of irreverence (as with a bit of piety) from time to time.
7d reminded me of the recent ‘oo’ puzzle we had not long ago from Puck (I think).
Re 28
for ‘bowlers’ please read ”bowdlers’ which this I-pad ironically insists on trying to correct!
Hard work for me.
WRT to allegedly perjoritive words for body parts…..
At some point in history, some idiot decided that they would presume that they could be insulting by using a word for a body part to refer to sother person. This idiot was clearly a complete raging snob because he decided that words derived from northern european languages could be so used, but not the equivalent words derived from so called classical languages. At this point it is worth pointing out that the victim of this first attempt at abuse was an even bigger idiot to have accepted the idea that a body part name could be so used. How gullible can you get? And what is even worse is that the pathetic intelligences which have subsequently followed this practice are also raging sexists. Why else would a feminine word be worse than an equivalent masculine word?
The whole concept that you can insult someone by mentioning a body part, or indeed be insulted by such usage, identifies a supreme stupidity (and/or a professional knicker wetter who looks for excuses to be outraged).
A body part is a body part, anything else is complete nonsense. Don’t believe me? Try calling somebody a stupid vagina or penis. Utterly ridiculous isn’t it?
very enjoyable. solutions came steadily and enjoyably slowly. i had chance for 26 a. i thought fiance for darling without if backwards, but i see that change is more elegant.
I loved this.
Paul showing us he can still do “difficult” and a welcome return of the smut. I got the feeling that Paul was thumbing his nose at someone.
Great fun but perhaps this was a little too difficult for a weekday puzzle? (or perhaps I’m getting thicker? 😉 )
Thanks to scchua and Paul
Welcome back Hedgehoggy and so sorry to hear you have been so ill. Found this hard going and was another one who put Swan (Ciggy paper/filter tips).
HH @20:
If you’re still reading:
You don’t need a possessive in the construction “Argentinian leader.” There are lots of contexts in which “thing leader” can mean “leader of thing.” Chelsea is the league leader; they are the leader of the league. Mario Andretti is the race leader; he is the leader of the race. Or for a non-sports example: Mitch McConnell is the Senate majority leader; he is the leader of the majority of the senate.
So “Argentinian leader” could be the leader of “Argentinian,” or in crossword-land not Christina Kirchner but A.
–M.
Hi Mr Penney,
Do you not reason reason by two different analogies, by inserting the word “the” into each of the example sentences ? I
I love it! I too take it to be Paul’s riposte to some of his critics. I laughed at SCHOOLBOY HUMOUR (in more senses than one), but my favourite is CARDINAL NUMBER.
Thanks, Paul and scchua!
@MrP #34
It’s better not to engage with the OP at all but you are absolutely right. The objections of the ximeneans* to many single letter indications is based mainly on their ignorance and enhanced also by the tradition established over the years of B-list setters who know they’ll never make the A-list looking for spurious reasons to decry the A-list.
Your argument is completely sound. Juxtaposition can indicate possession or connection in the required way. That’s why terms like “Railways Act” and “Companies Act” don’t have an apostrophe.
In the instant case we can also say that “Argentinian leader” means “leader of Argentina” so even those who have difficulty extracting R from redhead or middlemarch can understand it.
And there’s another shot at the Guardian [puzzle presumably] editor in the OP. That old axe must be almost completely ground away by now but it is of itself illuminating.
————————————————————-
* Some choose to call themselves something else but I’ll use that term for convenience, just as we’d call a neo-marcusian anarcho-syndicalist a trot, even though they themselves prefer the former appellation.
HH – I am glad you’re feeling better.
Could not ‘mess’ in 8,24 be the imperative form of the verb and not the noun at all?
A good puzzle. Some nice constructions; I thought FOREMAN was very elegant.
Thanks all
@WPF #38
From: How to do the Times Crossword by former Times editor Brian Greer.
for CLEOPATRA.
Insults by ‘Jolly Swagman’ aside, the problem he and others seem to have is the inability to distinguish consistently between the surface and the cryptic readings. Surfaces are so seductive, I can understand why people make that error over and over again, and I get caught also, so please don’t think I am some kind of ‘snob’.
The Brian Greer clue, if it is as quoted, is grammatically incorrect. But that formula (which word always reminds me of Primula 😀 ) is unfortunately very common. In The Times puzzle, funnily enough (since Mr Greer was its editor for a long time AIUI), if that sort of thing apopears there (1) has to be a good reason for it, and (2) there are usually QMs or exclamation marks to show that the editor is aware that there is a liberty being taken.
Hoggy.
PS I don’t think ‘her’ is a very good definition for CLEOPATRA.
Hi William
Thanks! It’s getting better now, I feel better each day.
Re mess, I see what you are getting at, buut the tense is wrong for the verb if you use it like that. ‘Mess’ vb is ‘to put in an untidy state’ rather than ‘put’ etc (i.e. the past participle). I think!
Anyone who doubts the accuracy of my quotation from Brian Greer’s book can, if they own a copy, easily check and indicate if there is any discrepancy.
I’m searching for anything rude in what I’ve written above. Needless to say there is none – unless it is considered rude to follow the advice of a great many other posters here and leave HH free to post his personal opinions at will but leave it at that and not respond – a policy which I had intended to follow.
OTOH AIUI the site policy #2 of:
is being breached by HH’s continual posts, each one of which includes statements such as the one in this case: “8,24d ‘mess’ is wrong”
“Is wrong” (which appears twice today) does not satisfy the “clearly” criterion – likewise numerous other regulars such as “grammatical”.
Failing to state specifically what the issue is (so others can, if so minded, dismiss it as irrelevant) makes the comment no more than a gratuitous insult to the setter.
We also have today (yet again) a gratuitous insult to the Guardian puzzle editor who, like most of his counterparts, is simply maintaining the policy established by his predecessor of hosting a variety of setting styles, rather than imposing the favourite setting approach of the editor on all of the offerings.
I wonder what Rowland’s view on all this would be.
Why are you so angry Jolly?
I’ve already very clearly (I hope 😀 ) explained why I find fault with the cryptic grammar of some clues, very few in this fine Paul puzzle, and of course this is my opinion only, as I often state. But you argue back in an ‘offended’ manner, as if I am laying down a law of some kind, which I am not. I value your opinion actually, and I have only ever ‘had a go’ at you when you yourself made a silly grammatical error in your post (IT’S when you should have said ITS), and only then after you had angrily pointed out an error in the text of one of my own submissions. I wish you would behave in a more civil way.
Why do you go on about a ‘Rowland’? You have said this several times, what does it relate to please.
HH
I’ve probably missed the boat and this will never be read but:
a) It’s nice to know I’m not alone!
b) There’s a difference between “schoolboy humour” which this wasn’t and “lavatory humour” which this was. The former is juvenile, the latter obsessed with bodily functions. They’re not the same thing at all.
13d see my colon, and the first four letters of 17d are remarkedly close to the last four of 23a, schoolboy humour indeed.
Thanks Paul and schhua
Only started this late last night … and found that it was back to solvable – have struggled to finish off the last couple of clues in both the Screw and Otterden puzzles – we will get there though !!!
Was able to finish this off in a couple of sessions, the second when what feels like flu woke me during the night. Still needed lots of help though – didn’t know CASTEL GANDOLFO and for some reason struggled to get LEGIONARIES for way too long. Needed every crosser for SEALING WAX, to finally understand what was going on with what was a clever and tricky definition.
Noticed a little more smut than has been forthcoming from Paul in recent times, but failed to see it as a theme in it’s own right 🙂