Paul’s crosswords are always a joy, and this was no exception (although I only got to it after Jenny had done most of the puzzle – she says she thought it was pretty typical prize crossword difficulty). Notably this includes one of my favourite clues of this year so far (27 across) and one that I think is really out-of-order (17 down)
Across
9. Fancy rogue and tall yob (5,4)
LAGER LOUT
(ROGUE TALL)*
Definition: “yob”
10. One despising another mad character half-heartedly (5)
HATER
HATTER = “mad character”, “half-heartedly” i.e. with only one of the central two characters
Definition: “One despising another” as in “haters gonna hate”
11. Herb that’s trendy with duck wings on rosemary (7)
CHICORY
CHIC = “trendy” + O = “duck” + R[osemar]Y = “wings on rosemary”
Definition: “Herb”
12. Word used in separation — “a snip”, say? (7)
GOODBYE
Sounds like “good buy” or “a snip”
Definition: “Word used in separation”
13. Con man (4)
ROOK
Double definition: “to con someone” is “to rook someone”, and a rook is a “man” (chess piece)
14. Unit chatted about outstanding soldiers (10)
DETACHMENT
(CHATTED)* around (“outstanding”) MEN = “soldiers”
Definition: “Unit”
15. Make roughly a hundred rowers minus a thousand (7)
COARSEN
C = “a hundred” + OARS[m]EN = “rowers minus a thousand”
Definition: “Make roughly” (wouldn’t COARSEN be “Make rough” instead, though?)
17. Fish to eat by river while lying back (7)
SARDINE
DINE = “to eat” alongside R = “river” + AS “while” reversed (“lying back”)
Definition: “Fish”
19. University on the border studying speech (3-7)
LIP-READING
READING = “University” on LIP = “border”
Definition: “studying speech”
22. Half of house missed (4)
SEMI
Hidden in “[hou]SE MI[ssed]” – “of” is a rather Araucarian hidden answer indicator
Definition: “Half”
23. A city doubled in number? (3,4)
NEW YORK
In the “number” (song) “New York, New York”, the name is “doubled”
Definition: “A city”
24. Carol, after a drink, flirting (7)
TEASING
SING = “Carol” after TEA = “a drink”
Definition: “flirting”
26. Company crushed by priest, a sickener (1,4)
E COLI
ELI = “priest” around CO = “Company”
Definition: “a sickener”
27. A risible dickhead floundering as Mandela interpreter (5,4)
IDRIS ELBA
An excellent clue, referring to this incident; (A RISIBLE D)* (the D in the anagram fodder is from D[ick] = “dickhead”)
Definition: “Mandela interpreter” – Idris Elba plays Nelson Mandela in “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Down
1. Exciting total one’s charged for heating (8,7)
ELECTRIC BLANKET
ELECTRIC = “exciting” + TOTAL = “blanket”
Definition: “one’s charged for heating”
2. Rowling character shaving head and bottom, sparkling stuff in general (8)
AGRICOLA
[h]AGRI[d] = “Rowling character shaving head and bottom” + COLA = “sparkling stuff”
Definition: “general”, referring to General Gnaeus Julius Agricola
3. A proportion of popular vote for Australian PM (4)
ARVO
A lovely clue – hidden in “[popul]AR VO[te]”
Definition: “Australia PM” (it’s Australian slang for the afternoon)
4. Popular political veteran an insubstantial figure, according to Spooner? (4,4)
TONY BENN
“bony ten” (“insubstantial figure”) spoonerized might give TONY BENN
Definition: “Popular political veteran”
5. Mark, Athenian character shackling Turkish leader (6)
STIGMA
SIGMA = “Athenian character” around T[urkish] = “Turkish leader”
Definition: “Mark”
6. Sex neither this nor that? (3,5)
THE OTHER
THE OTHER = “neither this nor that?” referring to the “this, that or the other”
Definition: “Sex”, as in “a bit of the other”
7. Secure horses (6)
STABLE
Double definition “Secure” and “horses”
8. Author writing about men — his weren’t gay (6,9)
ERNEST HEMINGWAY
(MEN HIS WEREN’T GAY)*, with anagram indicator “about”
Definition: “Author writing” (or maybe the definition is just “Author” and the anagram indicator is “writing about”)
16. Crush something underfoot — hurry up! (4,2,2)
STEP ON IT
(A very easy) double definition: “Crush something underfoot” and “hurry up!”
17. Hygienic topless bar — madness? (8)
SANITARY
A dubious construction, but I think this must be [b]AR = “topless bar” in SANITY, since “madness?” is IN-SANITY – not only do you have to use the “insanity” = “in sanity” trick that many dislike, but to do that after one level of indirection (thinking of a synonym for “madness”)…
Definition: “Hygienic”
18. Poisonous jerks lie in bed (8)
INEDIBLE
(LIE IN BED)* (“jerks” is the anagram indicator)
Definition: “Poisonous”
20. Work having arisen, duck into internet meeting (6)
POWWOW
OP reversed = “Work having arisen” + O = “duck” in WWW = “internet”; I don’t like this since the World Wide Web isn’t the same as the Internet and it’s not really an instance of an internet
Definition: “meeting”
21. Antelope bringing up a couple of children (3-3)
DIK-DIK
KID + KID = “a couple of children” reversed
Definition: “Antelope”
25. A capital’s musicians on top (4)
ALSO
A + LSO = “capital’s musicians”
Definition: “on top” as in “in addition to”
Thanks mhl. I shared your reservations on 15,17 and 20. 23 was my LOI, it had to be New York of course but I stared at it for a long time before the penny finally dropped.
Thanks mhl and Paul,
I see what you mean about SANITARY, but it is actually one of my favourite clues of the year so far.
Thanks mhl. This wasn’t hard at all but it was good. I liked POWWOW as well as ALSO, last in. The in ‘sanity’ I thought was excellent. Paul had ‘drongo’ in a recent puzzle, which is outdated: this one had ARVO which is very current.
Great puzzle, thank you Paul, and fine, detailed blog: thanks mhl. I have not commented for a while but came on this time to say I think the in sanity clue is just wonderful. My only slight gripe is that Idris Elba, great actor though he is, is perhaps not well enough known as yet to feature in a Guardian crossword.
Very enjoyable puzzle from Paul and informative, precise blog from mhl. But both of those are the natural state, I want to respond to Molonglo and coltranesax’s comments.
Drongo is one of those words I stopped using when I left Australia 36 years ago. I hadn’t realised that Australians had stopped too.
Guardian crosswords are full of TV personalities, actors etc. that I have never heard of but I consider Idris Elba a household name. His roles in The Wire and Luther saw to that.
Very enjoyable!
Many thanks mhl & Paul
However, I really struggled with IDRIS ELBA who is certainly NOT a household name in my household.
I too liked the clue for SANITARY. Different strokes for different folks. This type of construction is still way better than, say, “first time” to refer to the letter T 😛
Well I enjoyed this Paul and loved SANITARY.
I’ve actually never heard of IDRIS ELBA (I don’t watch movies any more and rarely see the TV.) However I deduced deduced the IDRIS from the wordplay and found him on Google. I actually thought it might be a reference to the dodgy sign language “interpreter” in Africa recently. However I have no problems with obscurities in a “Prize”. This used to be the norm didn’t it. This policy seems to have changed recently unlike the never to be questioned “Monday is easy/Rufus day” policy which appears to be almost mandatory. 😉
Thanks to mhl and Paul
In 3d, ARVO suggested to me the Estonian composer Arvo Part – “part” = “a proportion”, making it a triple?
I found this fairly straightforward, and as always with Paul, entertaining. I agree that IDRIS ELBA was a nice clue, and although I’m not a film buff and don’t watch much TV, I was familiar with the name (he has been talked about a lot ever since The Wire) and it is the sort of name you only have to hear once to remember. Like muffin@9 ARVO Part is more familiar than the Australian slang but the clue made that easy enough. Liked the Hemingway anagram too. I think SANITARY may have been last in but I can’t remember.
Thanks to Paul and mhl
I can’t remember how difficult I found this puzzle but I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it. I thought the clues for IDRIS ELBA and SANITARY were top notch. With Idris Elba having recently played Nelson Mandela in a film that was widely publicised I wouldn’t have thought he could be viewed as obscure, irrespective of his high profile TV roles in The Wire and Luther.
Thanks mhl and Paul
I enjoyed this despite having to check 3d (a very good clue) and 27a’s surname. Some clever and amusing cluing – like some others I liked 17d.
I also ticked 17a and 25d.
Interesting, I did suspect I’d be in a minority in not liking SANITARY (since long experience shows that most Fifteensquared Guardian commenters are more generous that me when it comes to what’s permissible in cryptic grammar) but I didn’t think it’d quite such a small one!
I seem to remember recommending this puzzle to a friend with the comment that it was mostly straightforward with a couple of tricky clues. I thought it a great crossword, the highlight being the IDRIS ELBA clue.
Thanks to Paul for some great entertainment and mhl for the blog.
Thanks to Paul for the crossie and thanks to mhl for the blog
Five proper nouns (six if you count E Coli) were more than I like, and I thought Reading for University was desperate: Reading U is way down the list of universities that come to (my) mind.
Count me in the fan club for insanity: Id like to see more of this type (reform = RE for M anyone?)
HKColin says:
“Drongo is one of those words I stopped using when I left Australia 36 years ago”
==
Thanks for the reminder HKColin.
Funnily enough, it’s one, that some of us still find handy here in the UK from time to time.
It will find application I suspect, if UKIP do as well as they forwardly boast in the EU MEP elections, and we become “drongo-drongoland”.
Cheers all.
Thanks mhl. I guessed SANITARY but couldn’t understand why. Having seen the solution I think it’s my favourite clue.
I had not heard of IDRIS ELBA and so learned something new, but I regard this as bonus not a problem.
New York is doubled in another sense too. York is the original city, then it is doubled as New York.
Thanks Paul and mhl
Found this to be a good level of difficulty for a prize puzzle. Started off smoothly enough with E-COLI first in. Typical fair clue-ing with some unknown terms such as THE OTHER (referring to the female sex) and the actor IDRIS ELBA. The long answers down each side were very gettable early on – a nice surface for HEMINGWAY.
Last in was ALSO after finally seeing the LSO as the capital musicians (very clever). The parsing of both NEW YORK and SANITARY took a long time – agree with others that 17d was the best of some very good clues.