Guardian 26,717 / Paul

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This was the usual very high standard of puzzle from Paul; we didn’t find it too difficult and there were plenty of clues to make us smile 🙂

Across

9. Spooner’s rejection of dog snack? (3,6)
POT NOODLE
A laugh out loud clue when the penny dropped: POT NOODLE is a Spoonerism of “not poodle” or “rejection of dog […]?”
Definition: “snack”

10. Wander past Tate’s first valuable collection (5)
TROVE
ROVE = “Wander” after T[ate] = “Tate’s first”
Definition: “valuable collection”

11. Hostile moves elected colonialist in Africa, reportedly? (7)
INROADS
IN = “elected” + ROADS sounds like (“reportedly”) Rhodes = “colonialist in Africa”
Definition: “Hostile moves”

12. One on girl’s head in woven plait? (7)
PIGTAIL
I = “One” + G[irl] = “girl’s head” in (PLAIT)*
Definition: the whole clue – a nice &lit

13. Leaden protagonist in erotic novel (4)
GREY
Double Definition: “leaden” and “protagonist in erotic novel”, referring to Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey

14. Fool to admit stupid, a wise character (4,6)
JEDI MASTER
JESTER = “Fool” around DIM = “stupid” + A
Definition: “a wise character”

16. Rovers team (7)
RANGERS
Double definition: “Rovers” and “team”, referring to Rangers Football Club

17. Walls of cement ideal for building fortress (7)
CITADEL
(CT IDEAL)* – the CT in the anagram fodder is from C[emen]T = “Walls of cement”
Definition:

19. Pompous official heading for presidency, a month in and needing a drink (10)
PANJANDRUM
P[residency] = “heading for presidency” + JAN = “a month” in AND followed by RUM = “a drink”
Definition: “Pompous official” – Chambers says, “A figure of great power and self-importance, a burlesque potentate, from the Grand Panjandrum in a string of nonsense made up by Samuel Foote”

22. Rejection of plans as probable junk (4)
SPAM
MAPS = “plans” reversed
Definition: “probably junk”, referring to spam email

24. Caught breaking into it, keen criminal — one collared? (7)
NECKTIE
C = “Caught” in (IT KEEN)*
Definition: “one collared?” – we weren’t sure about whether a necktie is really something that’s “collared”

25. Shakespearean bagging the hide (7)
LEATHER
LEAR = “Shakespearean” around THE
Definition: “hide”

26. Powder keg’s contents knocked over in style (5)
ECLAT
TALC = “Powder” + [k]E[g] = “keg’s contents” all reversed
Definition: “style”

27. Stir beyond two thirds of Russian sugar (9)
MUSCOVADO
ADO “Stir” after MUSCOV[ite] = “two thirds of Russian”
Definition: “sugar”

Down

1. Talk about those calling god a dog (8,7)
SPRINGER SPANIEL
SPIEL = “Talk” around RINGERS = “those calling” + PAN = “god”
Definition: “a dog”

3. Pink river entering the black stuff (5)
CORAL
R = “river” in COAL = “the black stuff”
Definition: “Pink”

4. Greek hero in old journey’s ending with ship consumed by god (8)
ODYSSEUS
O = “old” followed by [journe]Y = “journey’s ending” + SS = “ship” in DEUS = “god”
Definition: “Greek hero”

5. Old Greek city seeking power in new capital (6)
DELPHI
P = “power” in DELHI = “new capital”
Definition: “Old Greek city”

6. Where women aren’t invited, politicians in a rut? (4,5)
STAG PARTY
Double definition: “Where women aren’t invited” and “politicians in a rut?” (politicans form parties, and stags rut)

7. Metal key found under horse (6)
COBALT
ALT = “key” under COB = “horse”
Definition: “Metal”

8. Setter on pitch with Scottish team player of the past (5,4,6)
JELLY ROLL MORTON
JELLY = “Setter” + ROLL = “pitch” + MORTON = “Scottish team”, presumably referring to Morton Football Club?
Definition: “player of the past”

15. Lay waste to old Chester, say (9)
DEVASTATE
DEVA = “old Chester” + STATE = “say”
Definition: “Lay waste”

17. Not being prompted to assimilate learning, initially stupid (8)
CLUELESS
CUELESS = “Not being prompted” around L[earning] = “learning, initially”
Definition: “stupid”

18. 9 across? (8)
DOPEHEAD
A lovely clue in combination with 9 across: DOPE = “pot” + HEAD = “noodle”
Definition: “[POT NOODLE]?”

20,2. A Scot, one ruling for a change? (6,8)
NICOLA STURGEON
(A SCOT ONE RULING)*
Definition: the whole clue – another lovely &lit

21. Wonderful paper in doily that doesn’t need painting (6)
DREAMY
REAM = “paper” in D[oil]Y = “doily that doesn’t need painting”, where an “oil” might be a painting
Definition: “Wonderful”

23. Artist, a sizzler? (5)
BACON
Double definition: “Artist” (referring to Francis Bacon) and “a sizzler?”

27 comments on “Guardian 26,717 / Paul”

  2. Thanks mhl. Got the two long ones left and right with a couple of crossers, and there were other straightforward clues like 16 and 22A, 3 and 4D that moved things along. Didn’t know the Spooner food or the Roman name of Chester, but they sat up and begged. The SE corner was toughest, last in DOPEHEAD. A pleasant hour.

  3. Thanks mhl. I found it quite hard and spent more time on it than usual. Not knowing anything about Star Wars 14a was my LOI. The crossing letters and the word play helped but I had to seek confirmation.

    I guess a necktie usually goes under a collar so I had no qualms about 24a.

    I hadn’t come across MUSCOVADO before.

  4. Thanks Paul and mhl

    A Prize CRossword worthy of the name (unlike some recent ones).

    1ac was very easy for me, as my daughter, who has been known to eat them, always refers to “not poodles”. Strangely though, she wasn’t able to solve the clue when I showed it to her!

  5. A perfect example of a Prize puzzle.

    Meticulous cluing and enough of a challenge to justify the weekend slot.

    Lots of great clues and plenty of fun.

    Even though I had parsed 19A it still took me a while to find the right month, drink and configuration to drag PANJANDRUM from my subconscious. It’s very satisfying when a good clue finally reminds you of something just out of reach which you thought you’d forgot.

    Paul has recently shown us that he can still compile cracking puzzles..

    Thanks to mhl and Paul.

  6. Thanks to mhl and Paul.

    Good fun (and cluing).

    8dn. This must be the first time ever that (Greenock) Morton has featured in a cryptic crossword. What next – Cove Rangers?

  7. Thanks Paul and mhl.

    Like Brendan @5, I had to drag PANJANDRUM up from the depths of my mind, then wondered if I went back in time to when I last saw, heard or used the word how young I would be. I did not know the Roman name of Chester.

    24a, I just assumed the NECKTIE had been ‘collared’ by the collar, of course this would not be so with the straight standing collars of the past.

    POT NOODLE (my granddaughter eats them), ECLAT, DELPHI, STAG PARTY and many others were fun.

  8. An enjoyable puzzle from Paul that I found difficult. I nearly gave up on it but used a crossword solver to get
    PANJANDRUM and what a great word it is. This got me going and I was then able to finish. Favourites were SPRINGER
    SPANIEL, NICOLA STURGEON (yes I do like a politician who actually answers a question) and DREAMY for the wordplay.

    I was amused by 18d but it doesn’t actually have a definition unless POT NOODLE is slang for a DOPEHEAD.
    It could have said ’18 Drug user, 9 across?’ or am I missing something ?.

    Thanks to mhl and Paul.

  9. Thanks Paul & mhl; very enjoyable puzzle.

    Surely, a knowledge of Star Wars is almost as important as that of Shakespeare these days [slightly tongue-in-cheek?] Davy @8, is 18d not just a cd?

    I did smile at POT NOODLE, although the best Spoonerisms are when they form another recognised phrase. I did like the irreverent SPRINGER SPANIEL and the clue for NICOLA STURGEON was excellent!

  10. I found this one quite straightforward for a Prize, and none the worse for that. I somehow missed HEAD = “noodle” and took it as meaning the “head” (e.g. the start) of the answer to 1a, but mhl’s parsing makes more sense. My favourites were CITADEL and NICOLA STURGEON, with PIGTAIL and SPRINGER SPANIEL as close runners-up.

    Thanks to Paul and mhl.

  11. Most enjoyable and rather easier than some non prize puzzles we’ve had recently. Everything was very well clued include JEDI MASTER which took me a long time to see. As usual -so easy once you’ve got it. As a jazzer, I should have got JELLY ROLL MORTON rather than I did as well.
    But most enjoyable as I said.
    Thanks Paul.

  12. Peter @11
    I didn’t find it easier than the previous 2, which I thought were much too easy for a Prize.

    This week’s is a stinker, though!

  13. Thanks to Paul and mhl. I parsed MUSCOVADO (though the term was new to me) but needed help parsing JELLY ROLL MORTON. I did not know DEVA aka old Chester, but even as a US Solver I know Nicola Sturgeon from both the news and recent puzzles. I agree that this prize was easier than several recent weekday items (and much easier than today’s prize), but I much enjoyed it.

  15. Masha @14: if you’re complaining about the week’s delay in posting, remember that the blog for prize puzzles is embargoed until the deadline for entering the contest has passed.

    Like with others, I recall this as having been easier than normal and definitely fun. I, too, didn’t know the Roman name for Chester or the MUSCOVADO sugar, but both clues eventually went in. I also hadn’t heard of a Scottish football club called Morton, but once the clue was solved I knew there had to be one somewhere.

  16. No comments on the current Prize puzzle please. Even the most innocuous comment can spoil somebody else’s enjoyment!

  17. Oh, and my comment makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy the puzzle. I did. Paul is decidedly my favorite setter; his sense of humor, his sparkling surfaces, and his almost uniform clarity in cluing always make his puzzles a joy for me.

  18. BNTO @16

    Sorry – I thought that my comment was content-free.

    I remember Morton well from the 60s/70s when there were two Divisions in Scottish football. For years they were promoted one year, relegated the next.

  19. Thanks, mhl, for the blog and Paul for an enjoyable puzzle.

    Not much left to add, except that PANJANDRUM – lovely word! – appeared just two weeks before in a Prize puzzle from Dogberry [our Shed] clued as ‘God given month to beat VIP’.

  21. I realise that it’s a prize puzzle and therefore embargoed for a week. What I meant to say was that the puzzle published in this Saturday’s Grauniad was, um, last Saturday’s (this one).. At least, online. Ahem.

  23. Don’t remember a huge amount about this – for me it was a little tricky by Paul standards, and it took me ages to think of JEDI MASTER, my last in, but in my defence I’ve never seen Star Wars (any of them!)

  24. Don’t worry BH you’re in good company. I had managed to get to the age of 56 without seeing more than “the TV trailer” for any Star Wars film.

    My virginity was however broken on the advice of a young German work colleague who claimed they were the best films ever made. He even lent me a boxed set so I could bingewatch them over the weekend as I was staying in Deutschland and all my usual snooker opponents were off back to Blighty.

    So Saturday night was sorted. Luckily I had visited the DVD hire shop earlier in the day as a precaution. I managed with difficulty to watch about 40 minutes of the first one before I resorted to the hire stuff. Star Wars appears to target the pre-adolescent age group. Pure drivel. I would advise you not to make too much effort to fill this gap in your cultural experience.

  26. Thanks Paul and mhl

    Actually did this one last week on my last day of a short break and found it harder than his previous Prize puzzle but with the answers steadily flowing – at least up until the JEDI MASTER one, which slowed up the finish a bit !

    Remembered PANJANDRUM from that FT Prize puzzle, so that helped. A couple of other new words though, including DEVA (as the former name of Chester), JELLY ROLL MORTON and MUSCOVADO. Had met Ms STURGEON in other crosswords.

    Lots of fun as per usual from Paul and clear, unambiguous clues throughout.

  27. Thanks all
    Another Saturday another Paul.
    Last in was 26across ,
    I liked 8 down but special congratulations for 20,2 down. Is this the first xword appearance of the formidable lady?

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