Comments on: Guardian 25,464 – Paul

By: mikewglospur

mikewglospur — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:30:33 +0000

What’s all this about remembering the Lonnie Donnegan song from “when we were very young”? I was there in the audience when it was recorded (I was a student at the time – ie not so very young!). But I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that I didn’t get that clue till I’d filled in 90% of the rest of the grid.

By: UncleAda

UncleAda — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:50:58 +0000

for Giovanna @38

Joshua, Joshua,
Why don’t you call and see Mama,
She’ll be pleased to know
You are my best beau.
Joshua, Joshua,
Nicer than lemon squash you are.
Yes, by gosh you are,
Joshu-oshu-a.

By: Stella Heath

Stella Heath — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:54:30 +0000

With all the comments pointing to the idea the we were very young when this song hit the charts, yet the title springs quite readily to mind, it occurs to me that it’s that very title, and the fact that it’s often repeated within the song, that somehow stayed in the mind. Chewing gum drying out on the bedpost is such a probable thing for a kid, and so improbable for an adult to make a song about, that it must have stuck in our childhood imagination.

I had no idea the Book of Judith was apocryphal, but then for me everybody’s favourite psalm is nº22.

By: Giovanna

Giovanna — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:54:49 +0000

Thanks Paul and Manehi -all very entertaining.

Tupu @36 – very poetic!! I groaned when I saw the length of the anagram but once I had amulet, it led to gum and on to chewing gum, from which it had to be the old song. So from initial heart-sinking, it was good to see a good part of the puzzle filled.

1a reminded me of a dim memory of an old song – Josh u r Joshua? Maybe somebody else knows it.

Giovanna

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:45:01 +0000

I saw CHEWING GUM opening up itself from the grid, then FLAVOUR after which BEDPOST sprang to mind from previous occasions.
As others said, both Enigmatist and Gaff did it before, but Paul has the edge over them – in fact, by miles.

Even if the anagram didn’t bring “a whole crossword’s worth of clues” [indeed, manehi], it did not spoil the fun.
We couldn’t be bothered figuring out the anagram, but My Goodness Me, this was just a stunning surface for such a long anagram. A real classic.

The only time today I raised my eyebrows (a bit) was in 24d (KNEE). The Wounded Knee the clue refers to is capitalised, where ‘wounded’ in the clue itself is not. Although this is against the rules, the surface reading probably justifies it because you cán wound your knee (and a lot more than that ) in such an awful thing as a massacre.

Well done, manehi.
Very well done, Paul [still not grown up? - see 6d ].

By: tupu

tupu — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:13:09 +0000

Thanks manehi and Paul

Got back to this only in the late afternoon. Like Liz and cholecyst the old number emerged from the enumeration and crossing letters. I suppose I have heard it before in younger days (I have no memory of it from recent crosswords). I suppose it’s a relatively harmless piece of luggage to have lying about in the ‘uncatalogued museum’ of one’s subconscious.

Some excellent cluing. Ticks for 10a, 18a, 6d, 8d, 24d.

Thanks Tom_I for clarifying 1a.

By: James Droy

James Droy — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:36:04 +0000

Oh, no, sorry. I don’t know where the apostrophe in hymns came from. Now I look stupid as well as foolish.

By: James Droy

James Droy — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:33:15 +0000

Oh, poo. I spent a fruitless hour researching hymn’s in Ancient and Modern numbered 35. I wonder sometimes if I have ever learnt anything about crossword solving. But I was convinced the hymn book was revised in the recent past and a fuss had ensued when some were left out.

I am now a wiser, if not better, man and know more about hymns than I did this morning.

By: Derek Lazenby

Derek Lazenby — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:30:41 +0000

Not fond of long anagrams either. Got it in a way very similar to liz except I had the s and r in 16 and I was just looking at 16 thinking what words fit that? Does and Your sprang to mind and before any doubts could cloud the issue, the song burst into my mind. I did have a brief, oh no, surely not, moment, then saw the numbers and odd crossings fitted. But if that hadn’t happened I could have been stuck completely.

By: Allan_C

Allan_C — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:18:51 +0000

With a long entry like 16d etc this couldn’t have been anywhere else but The Guardian. I suppose it helped that I’m old enough to remember the skiffle era, and ‘chewing gum’ opened up the long one for me too, Stella.

Anyone puzzled by the reference to JUDITH (1d) being a book of the Old Testament may like to know that in Protestant editions of the Bible it’s in the Apocrypha. Quite a bloodthirsty tale, actually, of a honey trap set by the eponymous heroine. And, incidentally, the inspiration for Thomas Tallis’s famous 40-part motet ‘Spem in Alium’