Guardian 25,696 – Paul
Posted by Uncle Yap on July 24th, 2012
Another delightful, entertaining and amusing offering from Paul.
Place cursor over clue number to read the clue
| Across | ||
| 4 | SUCKER | dd |
| 6 | GOMORRAH | Rev of HARROW (school) minus W + MOG (slang for cat) of Sodom and Gomorrah infamy |
| 9 | HONOUR | Ins of ON (working) in HOUR (time) |
| 10 | ATROPINE | A + *(PROTEIN) for a poisonous alkaloid found in deadly nightshade, used in medicine eg for premedication |
| 11 | OUT OF BOUNDS | A most amusing and cheeky self-explanatory clue, my COD for making me laugh |
| 15 | ZIP CODE | cd Gettysburg is in Pennsylvania, USA where the postal code is so called; nothing to do with Abraham Lincoln’s Four scores and seven years ago …. |
| 17 | GELATIN | *(GENITAL) |
| 18 | PANDORAS BOX | Ins of *(BARD SOON) in PAX (peace) Pandora’s box refers to the container jar opened by the Greek mythological woman Pandora releasing all the evils of mankind into the world |
| 22 | PORT SAID | Another outrageously funny homophone clue linking LEPHT (pronounced or SAID as LEFT, which is PORT in marine terminology |
| 23 | STOOGE | ha for one of The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Curly Howard & Larry Fine) |
| 24 | MALINGER | MA (rev of AM, morning) LINGER (hang about) |
| 25 | PLANET | PLANE (surface) + T (time) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | REBUFF | To buff is to polish and to re-buff is to polish again and rebuff is a snub or slight |
| 2 | MONTENEGRO | Ins of TEN (figure) EG (exempli gratia, for example, say) R (right) in MONO (one) for Montenegro, a country in Southeastern Europe |
| 3 | COLOSSAL | Ins of LOSS (death) in COAL (black stuff) |
| 4 | SCHMOOZE | Ins of C & H (Cold and Hot taps, but actually in honour of Charles Higgins, a Liverpool plumber who invented the modern tap) MOO (low as in cow) in SIZE (capacity) minus I (not one) for Yiddish slang for gossip, chatter and gas |
| 5 | CENOTAPH | Rev of PAT (Patrick, the Irishman) ONE (i) C (caught in cricket) + H (hospital) for a memorial, say, in Whitehall, London |
| 7 | RAIN | ha |
| 8 | HEEL | dd heel being a very common order to a pet dog |
| 12 | OCEAN LINER | *(RELIANCE ON) |
| 13 | STUBBORN | Charade of STUB (remaining part of say a coupon) BORN (delivered as in maternity ward) |
| 14 | INEXPERT | I (first letter of ignoramus) + ins of PER (through) in NEXT (after) |
| 16 | OPPOSING | *(GP POISON) |
| 19 | ATTILA | Sounds like A TILLER (guiding influence) for Attila the Hun, a king of the Huns in the 5th century who killed many people |
| 20 | SPAM | SPA (health resort) M (first letter of McDonald’s) |
| 21 | ARAL | Rev of LARA Croft, portrayed by Angelina Jolie in the Tomb Raider |
Key to abbreviations
dd = double definition
dud = duplicate definition
tichy = tongue-in-cheek type
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram
July 24th, 2012 at 2:43 am
Excellent Crossword and blog. Thanks Paul and UY.
Entertaining and amusing.
ps UY following your advice, read (and re-read) Green Eggs and Ham to grandson who loved it – but I couldn’t help thinking of the Black-eyed Peas throughout!
July 24th, 2012 at 3:04 am
Thanks, UY.
Easiest Paul for a long time. Perhaps he’s waving the white flag after hearing that Tramp’s starring in the Indie today?
July 24th, 2012 at 3:34 am
A rather easy Paul. Entertaining
Great blog
Thanks Paul and UY
July 24th, 2012 at 7:33 am
Thanks Ucle Yap. Knocked this off in hospital this afternoon either side of a minor procedure, and had a few laughs, thanks Paul. Last in was SCHMOOZE=gas, but that may have been due to the anaesthetic. All good.
July 24th, 2012 at 8:09 am
Thanks UY.
Serial killer, Attila. Cockney rhyming slang.
July 24th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Could only think of HEED for 8 down. Hate it when I fail to finish by a single letter. Either way, certainly very easy for a Paul, but I won’t complain about an easy one on a Tuesday.
July 24th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Thanks UY and Paul
Very entertaining and challenging enough without being over-difficult.
I thought for a time there might be a pangram afoot.
I ticked 11a, 18a, 3d, 4d, 13d, 14d.
Re 4d, I have always thought of schmoozing as engaging in ‘massaging’ sweet talk and (as in Collins) ‘to chat to (someone) for the purposes of self-promotion or to gain some advantage’. But simple chatting is given there too and in Chambers.
I also wondered briefly when the ‘z’ appeared whether ‘not one for gas’ represented ‘oz(one)’.
July 24th, 2012 at 9:57 am
Thanks, UY.
Good fun. 22a reminded me of a line from the Goon Show.
“Steward, where’s the lavatory?”
“Port side, sir.”
“Good heavens, I can’t wait that long!”
July 24th, 2012 at 9:59 am
rhotician-
Apparently “Attila” is cockney rhyming slang for 2:1 (Attilla the hun – 2:1), not serial killer. It would be unusual to having rhyming slang where the slang is one word representing a two word phrase. It’s always the other way round as far as I know, with the long phrase (often abbreviated to the first, non-rhyming part – originally to disguise it, the point of the slang) representing the shorter one. Apples and pears = stairs; butcher’s hook = look; porkie pies = lies and so on.
July 24th, 2012 at 10:20 am
Thanks, UY.
A puzzle to brighten the day: not too taxing, and with a good variety of clues and plenty of smiles (6ac, 11ac, 22ac, 23ac and 21dn did it for me).
Paul is an Araucaria acolyte, but 15a is pure Bunthorne.
Like tupu, I suspected a pangram for a while. And I agree that SCHMOOZING generally implies some purpose other than simple conversation – but this may simply be a hangover from Jewish humour in which everyone is suspected of some ulterior motive.
July 24th, 2012 at 11:31 am
Thomas99-I do know how rhyming slang works and that my jest was therefore rather feeble. But thanks for the information. Quite amusing really.
(I take it you mean 2-1, as in odds, rather than 2:1 ratio.)
July 24th, 2012 at 11:43 am
I think it’s 2:1 as in degree result. There’s a selection:
Geoff (Hurst) = First
Desmond (Tutu) = 2:2
Douglas (Hurd) = Third
How my sides ache.
July 24th, 2012 at 11:49 am
Hi Gervase
A small point. Your final comment seems a little uncharitable. I don’t think it involves suspicion of everyone’s motives so much as a more general feeling of caution and pessimism about the hand that one has been dealt by fate.
July 24th, 2012 at 11:52 am
The perfect Paul for a day at home suffering from a summer lurgy. Not too difficult but lots to make me smile. I can assure the boss that 24a definitely doesn’t apply to me today.
July 24th, 2012 at 11:57 am
Thanks Matt. Instructive and amusing.
July 24th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Liked 7d with its extra hint, not mentioned above, that plants need rain.
Disliked 20d as I don’t think M is a common abbv of McDonald’s, although I suppose that it comes from the “golden arches” and the answer is obvious. I am a bit touchy about using the initial letters of words to fill out clues.
July 24th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
No, it’s the ‘superior to’ that tells you it’s a first letter. I think!
July 24th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Thanks all
After recently reaching the level of good or even very good this one represents a relapse for this setter.
Enumeration is often neglected in the assessment of puzzles here.
I find it critical when combined with over precise definitions.
Two fine (?) examples today: 11ac and 18ac. And because of their lengths and positions they turned a large part of the puzzle into a series of write-ins.
I didn’t know that Curly was one of the three stooges.
I quite liked 22ac but I’m sure the anagram in 10ac is an old chestnut.
July 24th, 2012 at 1:54 pm
15a looked like a (reversed) tribute to the clue mentioned in “Pretty girl in crimson rose (8)”:
Amundsen’s forwarding address? (4)
July 24th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Belter – thanks Uncle & Paul.
Failed on HEEL which I think is one of the weakest clues – well, I would, wouldn’t I?
I’ve reached the point where I love to see Paul’s name when I open the crozzie.
More please.
July 24th, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Easier than many of Paul’s offerings.
Thanks UY; I didn’t know about the Stooges and couldn’t parse MONTENEGRO.
July 24th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Well that was quite nice to come back to after a morning in the countryside.
At 23a I could see that STOOGE was hidden but couldn’t see how it fitted with ‘Curly’. I remembered the Three Stooges so took a punt. Surely, Paul wouldn’t pull out a 1950s comic troupe? In the same crossword as the (nearly) contemporary Lara Croft? Oh yes he can.
July 24th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
Bit of a raffle (and ticket) = ricket up the thread, but then he’s probably not from around these parts, is he. And nor am I.
I think I’ll go with whoever else likes 15 as the best one today, but a great puzzle from a great compiler. As for MUSH, well: I think it fair to say that old Bob Bunthorne’s work is much missed.
July 24th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
All fairly straightforward but I couldn’t parse some of the clues although the answers were obvious.
LARA was the last one in and I groaned when I got it – the original Lara originated in these parts and we’ve even got part of our inner ring road named after her. Favourite today, though, was ZIP CODE.
July 24th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
Thanks, Paul and Uncle Yap.
Much fun, as usual with Paul with the odd bit of rudery here and there. Like others, I was hung up on the Gettysburg Address before the penny dropped.
Giovanna x
July 25th, 2012 at 12:19 am
Paul B -I have to agree. Lightning and thunder, bit of a blunda.
July 25th, 2012 at 10:43 am
Thanks to all for a good puzzle and the enlightenment about 19d, in particular. Got bogged down by it for a while where tried to wring the clue to solve out as ‘chlorine’ until the crossers eliminated this and, by a process of elimination, led to ‘schmooze’ – like tupu@7 I was only aware of this in a more limited sense. Most confess, knowing Paul’s previous puzzles, I also toyed with something related to ‘pubics’ for a time.
July 25th, 2012 at 3:08 pm
Thanks Paul and Uncle Yap
Didn’t get to this one until today – for some funny reason I cannot print Paul crosswords from my work PC, so had to wait until I got home. Anyway, also found this one easier than normal with only a slight holdup with ZIP CODE and SCHMOOZE which was the last in. Did have to ponder between HEEL and HEED for a little while until the parse-able HEEL won out.
Thought that the two geographical clues – PORT SAID and GOMORRAH were the best, but did smile at 23.