Picaroon and my blogging schedule have been coinciding a lot lately, but I have no complaints about that. This was another fine piece of work: rather more difficult to get started on than some others, but very satisfying. Thanks to Picaroon
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | MARX BROTHERS | Philosopher makes an effort about reading comics (4,8) MARX (Karl, philosopher) + R (reading, as in the 3 Rs) in BOTHERS (makes an effort) |
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| 8 | HARBOUR | Shelter with or without husband (7) If the H is removed we get ARBOUR, which is another kind of shelter |
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| 9 | TRUSSED | Bound to show confidence in audition (7) Homophone of “trust” (confidence) |
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| 11 | REGALIA | Material teacher uses to hem government leader’s finery (7) G[overnment] in REALIA: “Objects, etc used as teaching aids to relate classroom work to real life” (Chambers) – the definition could also be “leader’s finery”, with G as a plain abbreviation |
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| 12 | PLASTIC | Artwork includes model foot able to be sculpted (7) LAST (model foot, as used by shoemakers) in PIC (picture, artwork) |
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| 13 | TOTES | English grasped by kids completely, as they say (5) E in TOTS – slang for “totally”, as said by (mostly) the young |
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| 14 | ON THE BEAM | Place for gymnastics routine that’s correct (2,3,4) Double definition – the “correct” meaning refers to a ship etc following a radio beam |
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| 16 | RACONTEUR | Judge banking fraud by extremely unfair account provider (9) CON in RATE (judge) + U[nfai]R |
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| 19 | BAMBI | Heart-throb: ambiguous, captivating lead in film (5) Hidden in heart-throB AMBIguous |
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| 21 | ILL WILL | Rancour of bard repeatedly losing face (3,4) WILL WILL (Shakespeare) losing the first “face” – “repeatedly” applies to “bard”, not “losing face” |
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| 23 | ABRADES | One maybe hammered in the main, back in scrapes (7) BRAD (nail) in reverse of SEA |
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| 24 | MUPPETS | Having a lead, stops 1,000 dogs, say, getting nits (7) UP (being in the lead) in M (1000) PETS, with nits and muppets both as words for idiots |
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| 25 | LONG AGO | Ancient ladies snorting crack after noon (4-3) N[oon] GAG (joke, crack) in LOO |
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| 26 | COME DOWN WITH | Comedian beset by disappointment — hard to get contract (4,4,4) WIT (comedian) in COME-DOWN (disappointment) + H[ard] |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | MR RIGHT | The one expensive motor cuts power (2,5) RR (Rolls Royce) in MIGHT (power) |
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| 2 | ROOTLES | Ferrets let out in mini jumpers (7) LET* in ROOS (“mini-jumpers”) |
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| 3 | BARCAROLE | A number of punters sing in nude (9) CAROL (sing) in BARE – a barcarole is the song (number) of a gondolier, which is not quite the same as a punter.. |
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| 4 | ON TAP | Performing a kind of dance, like some beers (2,3) ON (performing) + TAP (dance) |
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| 5 | HAULAGE | Transport valuable metal criminal stashed in vacant house (7) AU (gold) + LAG (criminal) in H[ous]E |
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| 6 | ROSETTE | What supporter has in street, playing with ball (7) Anagram of STREET + O (ball) |
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| 7 | SHORT‑TERMISM | Focus on the current advocacy of monosyllables? (5-7) Double definition |
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| 10 | DECOMMISSION | Condom is semi-broken? Withdraw from action (12) (CONDOM IS SEMI)* |
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| 15 | TARPAULIN | Two setters in water — this keeps us dry (9) PAUL (Guardian setter) + I (Picaroon referring to himself) in TARN (mountain lake, water) |
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| 17 | CALYPSO | Nymph gently donning lacy pants thus (7) P (piano, gently) in LACY* + SO |
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| 18 | NAIVETE | Green quality of water from South Tyrone’s borders (7) Reverse (“from South”) of EVIAN + T[yron]E |
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| 19 | BURUNDI | Seek office as an American in China, India or another country (7) RUN (American term for seeking election, as opposed to the more leisurely British “stand”) in BUD (friend; China is rhyming slang: china plate = mate) + I[ndia] |
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| 20 | MUDBATH | Slander hospital, receiving stick for muscle treatment (7) BAT (stick) in MUD (slander) + H |
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| 22 | LASSO | One seizing stock up in Cairo’s sales (5) Hidden in reverse of cairOS SALes |
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Great puzzle as always from Picaroon. I got MARX BROTHERS fairly quickly, but the other clue with a comic element was tougher, so COME DOWN WITH was LOI for me. Favourites were MUPPETS, BARCAROLE and ILL WILL. Many thanks to P and A.
I found this way too difficult. Only got less than half out and the complexity of some (eg 19d) was astonishing. Never heard of rootles, and was unaware of meanings of brad and muppets. The only one that brought a smile to my face was 3d. But for the sake of my sanity I won’t be attempting Picaroon again.
Agree with Andrew that this was very satisfying. Quite a few brought a smile to my face, with 21A and 1D particular favourites. 3D a new word for me, but gettable from the clue. And a couple I guessed the answer without being able to parse, so thanks Andrew for 11A (never heard of realia before) and 26A.
Rootles deserves more use than it gets.
I can’t think of any other word for propelling a vessel with a pole than “punting”. That makes a gondolier a punter even if the vessel is not a punt.
“Leader’s finery” seems more likely as the definition though either variant works.
Burundi feels a little clunky to me; the suggested parsing is the most straightforward though “run for office” doesn’t strike me as particularly Amercian whereas “bud” certainly is. I wonder if this clue started as a different concept.
Other than that quiblet, very nice, and thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.
Totes brill obvs. Thanks Picaroon.
Couldn’t parse REGALIA so thanks Andrew. And I now get COME DOWN WITH: that sort of contract! Duh!
Thanks Picaroon for a challenging puzzle and Andrew for the correct parsing of TARPAULIN. I had TAR (a substance that hardens) and PAUL as setters, and IN from the clue, leaving ‘water’ a not very satisfactory part of the definition.
Thanks Picaroon and Andrew
Hard but fair. I parsed everything except REGALIA – despite teaching for 35 years, I had never heard of REALIA (probably superfluous in Chemistry!).
I remember a Mike Harding monologues where he explains that “rootle” means something entirely different in the USA, but I couldn’t find it online.
Favourite NAIVETE.
Does “ladies” for LOO in 25a need a DBE indicator?
And I agree with ravenrider @4 about BURUNDI. I got there with ‘bud’ being an American equivalent to ‘mate’ (‘china plate’).
Muffin@7 – what is DBE please?
Another tough challenge and had to reveal SHORT-TERMISM. The two ‘Comics’ clues along with ILL WILL and RACONTEUR were my favourites. BARACOLE was new but gettable. Superb.
Ta Picaroon & Andrew
Sadly, I didn’t enjoy this puzzle as much as I usually do Picaroon’s challenges. Among other things, I really dislike clues like 1d that treat abbreviations such as ‘Mr’ as legitimate words.
Having said that, Picaroon is still one of my very favourite compilers.
Oh dear Geoff @2. When you’ve recovered a bit from the bumps and bruises, I would definitely recommend getting back on the Picaroon horse. This was tougher than the average pirate, esp. MUPPETS and COME DOWN WITH, and I didn’t know ON THE BEAM.
But I’d concur with muffin’s ‘hard but fair’ verdict – one of those that, even if you’re still stuck after a whole day’s puzzling, it’s worth sleeping on and seeing if a few pennies drop in the morning.
ravenrider @4 – doesn’t a gondolier use an oar, not a pole?
Thanks for a challenging workout Picaroon, and customarily helpful blog Andrew.
Also found this hard and took a while to get going but as always with Picaroon I enjoyed it, though need some help parsing a few.
Not heard of “realia”. Had seen “brad” before in a crossword but had completely forgotten it
Favourite was ILL-WILL which made me laugh.
Also liked TOTES, RACONTEUR, HAULAGE, PLASTIC
Not heard of BARCAROLE but to my surprise got it from the clue.
Thanks Picaroon and Andrew
TerriBliSlow @9
Sorry – definition by example, usually indicated by “perhaps” or “?”
Realia was new to me and my favourite was TARPAULIN. Gondoliers row using a single oar of coarse rather than punt using a pole but I was prepared to forgive the “punters” reference and admired the deceptive definition.
Here is probably the most famous Barcarolle
Like Paul, and others I suspect, the ia in regalia was a Che? Material = real, yes, but nho realia. Makes perfect sense of course, as in re et alia. But yes, great puzzle, thanks to Pickers, and to Andrew for the trademark succinct blog.
[Terri @9 – I’m sure muffin didn’t mean to emphasise the ‘Slow’ 😉 ]
Me@ 10: Oops, BARCAROLE of course. I also thought that DECOMMISSION was funny and wondered if there was a VERY subtle reference to South Tyrone…
[oops!]
Not sure about rootle and the USA muffin @7, but the equivalent “root” definitely has an additional meaning in Australia and NZ as I discovered when I migrated here. I think I remember the Mike Harding sketch.
Another class act from Picaroon. Saw MARX BROTHERS and RACONTEUR straight away which helped a lot. One of the things I particularly like about Picaroon is that obscure words like BARCAROLE are (at least to my mind) very fairly clued. So thanks very much to Picaroon and to Andrew for some parsing that eluded me.
Tim C
I think you might be right – root rather than rootle. It was a long time ago!
Essexboy@12, perhaps I just wasn’t on the right wavelength today. I had done at least one of Picaroon’s before and enjoyed it. At least I can say I knew about barcaroles — I was a music teacher in a former life.
ravenrider@4: “scull” is the word you need.
Ravenrider @4: Americans traditionally run for elected office and Brits stand for it. I don’t know about elsewhere in the Anglosphere, but I’m pretty sure the usage was originally American. Of course, this distinction is very likely blurred by now.
If gondoliers are not punters (debatable), why would it have been so very wrong to use the word gondoliers in the clue? Apart, obviously, from making a difficult solution marginally easier?
Muffin @7
Are you maybe misremembering
this
Always forget that Calypso is a nymph, as it evokes Afro-Carribean (via, sort of, the little girl left in Kingston Town) to reggae.
Another beauty from one of my favourite compilers.
Geoff @2: I’d echo essexboy’s encouragement. Even experienced solvers sometimes hit a wall. Back on the horse, old chap.
I believe the gondolier’s method of propulsion is in fact an oar and that strange-shaped little barbthat supports his oar is the rowlock or forcola in his language, and is traditionally made of walnut.
Lovely stuff, Pacaroon, more please.
kenmac
Thanks for the attempt, but it was definitely a monologue rather than a song.
I found this tough but got there in the end. I thought 13ac might get more comments as a bit of recent slang? Thanks to P and A.
Bunged carol in bare, no trouble, but the gondalier ref washed straight by me. But I’m on board with eb @12 and Tim C @15 re the pole/oar distinction.
I usually enjoy Picaroon, but not so much today’s, which seemed to go out of its way to be unhelpful (though ILL WILL and TARPAULIN were fun). I haven’t met realia before, or ON THE BEAM=correct, and failed to parse ROSETTE (failing to see that I needed to use STREET in full, not ST).
As for HAULAGE, I thought that two-stage processes like precious metal -> gold -> AU were frowned upon, so I wasted time looking for something else that wasn’t there.
Muffin@14, thanks – I take your point. However, “ladies” and “gents” are fairly common alternatives so maybe a DBE would be giving too much away? I loved the crossword – enough of a challenge and a lot of wit. So much to admire. Possibly 1ac and 26ac were my CsOTD. Thanks Andrew and Picaroon.
Enjoyed this. Couldn’t parse REGALIA, but it had to be. Favourite was SHORT-TERMISM.
Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.
muffin @32 you’re thinking of this maybe at the 5:40 mark
A DNF for me, mainly because there were so many DNKs: REALIA, LAST (model foot), ON THE BEAM, BRAD (nail), BARCAROLE, ROOTLES (‘roots’, yes – but not ‘rootles’) .
It’s a long long time since supporters wore rosettes!
[Well found, Tim C @38!]
I loved this. Thanks, Picaroon and Andrew. I don’t have a problem with ‘regalia’ – it’s a standard word in education, especially in language teaching. My favourites were 25a and 10d for their lovely sauciness.
Me@41 Sorry – ‘regalia’ from ‘realia’, which is the standard word I was talking about
Thanks Andrew for explaining quite a few bits and bobs and looks like I was far from alone in my ignorance of most of them so I feel a bit better now!
Luckily I started online today so my initial guess at an BARRATONE (as something plausibly derivable from Baritone or v-v) was soon corrected, though I only knew the LL spelling (from my old Bontempi organ music – thanks TimC@15 for a professional version – MH will have to wait for later though).
I liked the construction of BURUNDI which reminded me of Brendan’s clueing for some reason.
Happy to spot BRAD from bradawl, always nice to see CALYPSO but especially liked TOTES (next week “Amazeballs”?) and of course the MARXes, thanks Picaroon.
Thanks to Picaroon for an enjoyable puzzle. However, gondoliers don’t punt. They row. (And need 400 hours of tuition to get a licence.)
[muffin @40. I think I still have the cassette tape somewhere but nothing to play it on!]
I agree with Trish’s favourites @41 (for their lovely sauciness) and, among several more, I enjoyed the ferrets in their mini jumpers – I love the word ROOTLE, too.
I never came across REALIA while I was teaching (well, a lot has changed in 20+ years) but it rang a distant bell, so I searched and found it in a Picaroon puzzle that I blogged three years ago: ‘Form are without the greatest teaching aids’.
Many thanks to Picaroon and to Andrew.
Steve69 ….. just wait for the next General Election …. you’ll see supporters wearing rosettes I suspect.
Liked LONG AGO, NAIVETE, ROOTLES.
Did not parse 11ac apart from G = government leader; 24ac apart from M = 1000; 15d apart form PAUL; 19d.
New: BRAD = nail (for 23ac).
Thanks, both.
Thought this was a rewarding challenge, though made a very ponderous start with only ILL WILL inserted on first pass. And working away on the SW corner then. Surprisingly the last few in included the long MARX BROTHERS (totally thrown by the misdirection there), and finally SHORT-TERMISM and MUPPETS. Simply wasn’t up to date enough to know that TOTES is part of the conversation these days. Couldn’t properly parse PLASTIC, either…
TERRIBLISLOW@9:
Was asking myself the same question and, just when I thought it must mean ‘Don’t Bother Enquiring’, I came across a website with the following:
‘Definition By Example’ ….
citing using the name / word Dickens rather than ‘author’.
As for what would indicate a DBE, right now your guess is as good as mine …
Very enjoyable puzzle which I found moderately challenging, especially in the SE quadrant. It took a long time to spot BAMBI as a hidden solution – the surface is such a good allusion to Rudolf Valentino that I got sidetracked.
I particularly liked the long perimeter entries. ‘Realia’ was new to me too, though the solution was unambiguous. BARCAROLE I did know (especially from the number that Tim C references @15 – great rendition) and I liked the clue, despite the misattribution of gondolieri as ‘punters’ and the awkward surface grammar of ‘in nude’.
Thanks to S&B
That was tough, but slowly came together. Another who didn’t know REALIA so was wondering how to parse REGALIA. I did know BE ON BEAM, but I grew up around boats and had an ex-Navy parent. I don’t think it’s just radio, but dates earlier to lining up leading lights to get into difficult harbour entrances (the old trick was to place lights that if lined up correctly show the right course).
I also know LASTs as people who make their own shoes start by making their own last to match their feet, and I follow a few on Instagram; they started with clothes. Brads are specific nails, also used in traditional shoemaking, as is the technique of abrading the soles.
I recognised BARCAROLE as a piece of music, without knowing it was connected to gondoliers, but didn’t parse the BUD of BURUNDI or the anagram of ROSETTE, nor the EVIAN in NAIVETE.
Only LASSO on my first pass, then gradually built on that clockwise, finishing with COME DOWN WITH, with its well hidden definition. Not easy, but an enjoyable challenge.
MR RIGHT and BAMBI were favourites when I eventually spotted the definition and hidden word respectively. Many other interesting clues, including those for RACONTEUR, MARX BROTHERS and SHORT-TERMISM.
I often go a-rootling in my memory when rooting is too vigorous and fumbling too imprecise. Little-used and long-forgotten items of vocabulary occasionally respond, particularly when I am otherwise footling or bumbling about.
Felt v. clever to have got all these superb clues, even if failing to parse them all!
Super puzzle with great blog.
A couple of extra chillis in the mix should not put solvers off Pickers as he is so consistent-this was tricky in places
I have to say i have been struggling with an old Araucaria Prize-I may have to reveal or use check its no 24289
Thanks
I’d agree with difficult but very satisfying. My favourite was 13a
Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew
A puzzle set by Picaroon is usually a two staged affair in our house, but we got him in one today. Challenging, full of complexity but also fun. Lots of ticks and two new words. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew for blog.
essexboy @12 speaks the truth – I found it really hard to get this first thing this morning, but put it to one side and came back to it at lunchtime, when the rest feel nicely into place. So count me as another vote for “difficulty but satisfying” – and very funny in places.
“Realia” and “on the beam” rang the faintest of bells, and some of the parsing was a bit convoluted by Picaroon’s usual standards, but all fair, despite the minor quibbles mentioned by others. Nice job on unravelling it all, Andrew.
[Still working@50 – hope I understand your question correctly, my best offer is that a DBE indicator is typically a question mark or the words “maybe”, “perhaps” (and similar).
In this puzzle we have “dogs, say” in 24a – “say” is the DBE indicator that we are looking for something of which “dogs” are an example – here it is PETS.
Muffin’s point is that “Ladies” is an example of a LOO, ie a subset of the bigger group rather than fully synonymous with toilet (thus WC or John would NOT need DBE indicators) BUT that this was not indicated – eg with a “maybe” after the Ladies to help us. But see other responses further up as to why this may not be strictly necessary in this case and decide for yourself whether you feel cheated!
And the DBE is only needed that way round – if the clue contains “Pets” and we need to enter a subset of that eg Dogs or Cats, then no DBE required.]
I have to leave now without having read all the comments. Here’s a few anyway.
How is ROSETTE what a supporter has?
MUPPETS hasn’t got the meaning of “idiots” in the US, it just means the late Jim Hanson’s puppets on television.
muffin@7 As far as I know, “rootle” doesn’t mean anything in the US, but is a Britishism I’m quite fond of.
I enjoyed it, did the last few this morning, some with the help of the check button. Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.
I remembered REALIA from teacher training 50 years ago, but forgot LAST from a very recent puzzle. Punters on the Cam are clearly missing out in not having their own singing style.
For idiot = MUPPET, see the end of this clip (probably mostly of interest to cricket followers!)
Valentine@61 here is a Welsh rugby supporter sporting a rosette (and a leek):
https://www.gettyimages.ch/detail/nachrichtenfoto/photo-of-max-boyce-performing-live-onstage-holding-nachrichtenfoto/84999058?language=fr
In my youth I had a smaller version, and one for my football team, but as Steve69 says above they are not so common now.
But see also Still Working@47 and here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosette_(politics)
[Thx to Lawrence @45 for information re gondoliers – who don’t punt, and the 400 hours of tuition they need to get a licence. I now have even more admiration for the (mostly) elegant knights of the venetian canals, who were very much a part of making an anniversary visit to this great city a few years ago very special indeed.]
Thanks for the blog, good set of clues and nearly lasted my journey home. Not heard of REALIA but the clue was fair enough overall. I liked how BAMBI was hidden and ABRADES was nicely constructed.
Only quibble was for ROSETTE , a frown, Paddington stare and a tut tut.
Valentine @ 61, football supporters used to wear a ROSETTE in the colours of their team.
Sorry Gazzh , you beat me.
Thank you Picaroon and Andrew (help needed for ‘realia’).
I very much enjoyed the challenge, slow to unravel but got there eventually.
A TRUSS (not Liz) of course could be a BEAM or at least a supporter (sans ROSETTE).
Some political commentary maybe in MUPPETS, NAIVETE and SHORT-TERMISM?
I imagined gondoliers TRUSSED up in their REGALIA, singing BARCAROLES under the TARPAULIN, and RACONTEURs telling tales of CALYPSO LONG AGO.
Thanks Picaroon for another excellent crossword. Most of this methodically fell into place but I struggled in the NW corner where guessing, then checking, helped me complete this. My favourites were RACONTEUR, the nicely hidden BAMBI, MR RIGHT, DECOMMISSION for its wonderful surface, and BURUNDI (anytime I remember rhyming slang merits a tick.) ROOTLES and BARCAROLE were new to me and I could not parse REGALIA. Thanks Andrew for the help.
This was fine I found. A few tricky ones but mostly the usual enjoyable and fair Picaroon. It was certainly easier for me than yesterday’s, which I’m still working on 🙂
George Clements@11 – Just as LASER stopped being an acronym, Mr (and Mrs and Ms) stopped being abbreviations according to Chambers and SOED. They’re nouns in their own right. Both have MR RIGHT too.
ROOTLES was new (lovely word) — as was BARCAROLES but, like Fiona Anne@13, I got it from the wordplay. And liked the image conjured up by ILL WILL.
I also thought REGALIA was hinting at REAL rather than REALIA (nho).
Agree with Trish@41 about the two saucy entries.
wynsum@68 – lol
And, of course, thanks Picaroon for another entertaining puzzle and Andrew for the help parsing some clues.
I too enjoyed the sauciness in a couple of Picaroon’s clues and I’m gratified to see that, so far at least, they haven’t garnered the sniffy comments that Paul’s offerings appear to automatically attract from a certain type of contributor to this excellent forum.
Excellent. Another big uptick for the fnarr-fnarr 10d from me. Nothing much to add, as all points are well covered by others. Isn’t 3d what Lassie had in Hollywood 😉 ?
Thanks, P & A
Late today for a million reasons. Loved this, great puzzle , just what I needed.
COME DOWN WITH was well constructed.
Thanks Picaroon and Andrew
Thanks Andrew, I needed some of those explanations today. And if I could reply to Gert @72, as one of those “certain type of contributors” (!)… yes, while not as puerile Paul’s typical offerings, I was disappointed to see Pica “lowering the tone” today with some inappropriate surfaces. I know others (like Gert, clearly) find it amusing, but personally I just find it childish and distasteful.
A super puzzle. Came back to it tonight long after completion to try & parse a few but got nowhere with REGALIA & BURUNDI & not quite there with TARPAULIN. With apologies to Ian @75 but the risqué surface read for DECOMMISSION was my favourite.
Thanks to Picaroon & to Andrew for the explanations
I had the opposite experience to our blogger, starting very fluidly and then grinding to a halt. Being unable to parse REGALIA (never heard of “realia” and not able to work it out) made me doubt the crosser in 3d; forgetting (as I always do!) that ‘number’ can mean a song; and unable to see MUD for ‘slander’ until I’d got BRAD in the crossing clue. Those four took me twice as long as the rest of the puzzle. My other parsing failure was ‘model foot’, though I wrote in PLASTIC anyway.
I can see neither anything distasteful in the clue for 10d (Ian @75 – but nor did I go “fnarr fnarr”, phitonelly @73!) nor anything to prompt disapprobation in ROSETTE (Roz @66 – ball for letter O is so common as to invite no comment at all from 99% of contributors here). As someone on a YouTube channel that I follow always says, “But that’s just me. Tell me what *you* think in the comments below.” 🙂
Thanks to Picaroon and Andrew.
[Thanks to copmus @56 for suggesting 24,289. As usual with Araucaria, I stared blankly at most of the clues for a couple of minutes until finally one or two dropped.
*SPOILER ALERT* (Though the puzzle is 14 years old!) I started to make progress after I figured out 1d from some of the crossers and the wordplay, which confirmed my guess for 21d. Most people I guess will find 11a obscure but it is gettable from the wordplay. I had to use the check button to confirm that I had put the wrong answer at 27a, but this was just carelessness on my part, as the clue is accurate, of course.
I finished in about 40 minutes, which is quite quick for me, so it’s quite possible that I did this puzzle all those years ago, though I had not the slightest recollection of it. Mind you, that often applies to yesterday’s offering – sometimes even today’s, usually about 20 minutes after finishing. I note that the blogger failed to finish, which is something we don’t see these days – and there were only two comments! The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.]
I thought this was an excellent and enjoyable puzzle. It took me longer than usual. I think I had my mind on various other matters but that doesn’t account for my slow progress. BARCAROLE was my favourite. Also HARBOUR and the nicely hidden BAMBI. The gondolieri provided a pleasing coincidence as I’m currently reading a Donna Leon Commissario Brunetti novel set in Venice. I didn’t parse everything (BURUNDI REGALIA), so thanks for the explanations.
I had a slight reservation about TARPAULIN. I think it’s a bit much to expect an occasional solver (and they do exist, though perhaps not on this forum) to know the names of Guardian setters.
25a and 10d didn’t bother me, though I’m not a fan of “schoolboy humour”. Ok occasionally, but it seems like Paul now feels obliged to put some in every crossword. He deserves to be appreciated for more than just that. However the upside is that it always reminds me of this Flanders and Swann song.
Thanks Picaroon and Andrew.
Without even counting repeats there are a maximum of 78 other commenters so I fail to see the figure of 99% ?
Regardless I am happy to be in the 1% or even a minority of 1, it is better to be right than to be popular.
sh @77. Just to clarify, the problem – speaking for myself, anyway – isn’t with ball = O per se, it’s ball = O to be mixed in with the anagram fodder. I’m glad Roz mentioned it, as inexplicably I failed to do so 😉 But we (tatou) have had this discussion before, and I’m guessing that we (maua) may not be able to persuade you.
A puzzle of clever, difficult clues. Most I tried many times to figure out what was the definition and what was the wordplay. Challenged by several unknown/unfamiliar words and/or usages.
Looking forward the day I solve Picaroon puzzle on my own and grateful for the parsing blog by Andrew for helping me understand what I meant.
BTW, I think the Gondoliers occasionally use their oars as punts, (for those who objected to 3D)
PS, the only rosettes I was aware of in England was for political parties in elections, which I guessed could be supporters.
Oops, “missed” not “meant”
[Calgal @82 – wouldn’t they be a bit tricky to sit on? 😉 ]
essexboy @81. Yes, my remark about how common and obvious ‘ball’=O was was meant to address the “indirect anagram” complaint from Roz. As has been said many times, there are no rules, just an expectation that the setter will avoid being unfair if at all possible. I found this clue to be not just fair but witty, with a smooth surface. If the letter indicated in the clue is obvious, and the inclusion in the anagrist ditto, how is it unfair? That it is thought to conflict with imaginary rules is not my problem.
My use of 99% in my post @77 was not meant to be provocative, and certainly wasn’t innumerate – I do know that you can’t have 99% of 78 people! It’s just hyperbole. 🙂