Solving time: 12:15
A very quick blog this week as I have run out of time. I enjoyed this puzzle, not too difficult with a few memorable clues. Two comedians were described as ‘saucy chaps’ (Benny Hill and Dick Emery), but I don’t think the theme runs any deeper.
Music of the Day (1dn): The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship from Scheherezade by Rimsky-Korsakov.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 9 | ISRAELITE; I, + rev. of LEAR in SITE |
| 10 | P(HOT)O |
| 11 | BOWKNOT; BOW (= ‘bend’) + KNOT (= ‘bird’) |
| 12 | WHEELIE; “REALLY” (as pronounced by a child, perhaps) |
| 13/23 | DICK EMERY; K in DICE, + ME[r]RY – the comedian. |
| 14 | MORE OR LESS; OR (= ‘yellow’) + rev. of ROE (= ‘eggs’) + L, all in MESS (= ‘canteen’) |
| 16 | HAWKING; HAW (= ‘may’) + KING (= the author Stephen King) |
| 19 | SECOND + HAND |
| 24 | IN A STEW |
| 25 | G + AMBLER – I think the author is Eric Ambler. |
| 26 | [r]OTTER |
| 27 | OWNERLESS; (WE ENROL) + S,S |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SINBAD THE SAILOR; SIN BAD (= ‘truism on vice’) + (HE’S in TAILOR) |
| 3/22 | BEN + N.Y. + HILL |
| 4 | VIETCONG; VIE (= ‘fight’) + C in TONGA (= ‘friendly location’, being also known as the ‘Friendly Isles’) – my last entry, and I was getting worried I wouldn’t solve it. |
| 5 | WEE + WEE – very clever use of the ‘small’ sense of the word ‘minute’. |
| 6 | EPHEDRINE; (DEEPER IN)* around H |
| 8 | HONEY + SUCKLE + ROSE |
| 15 | |
| 17/7 | GING GANG GOOLIE; N in GIG (= ‘concert’) + GANG (= ‘band’) + GOOLIE (= ‘ball’) |
| 18 | TRIALLED; ALL in TRIED |
| 20 | C(H)ASTE |
| 21 | HOW NOW BROWN COW; BROWN (= ‘our leader’) in HOW,NOW,COW (= ‘vow with repeated changes in leadership?’) |
Many thanks, Rightback, I now have pleasure in awarding this Prize Puzzle the accolade of ‘The Best Ever’.
Sadly, however, you made a mistake which (I’m afraid) totally invalidates your completion time of 12 hours and 15 minutes: 15d is actually SIGNATURE and I believe it highly unlikely that even Araucaria would ever use such an obscure word as SINGATURE which Chambers defines as a ‘Signature Song’ (Cockney Slang).
I struggled with 12a WHEELIE and 5d WEE-WEE (the last two that I got) but I was so delighted when the pennies dropped that I submitted my solution for the Prize Draw. So here’s hoping!
5d and 7d – a litle daring for the Guardian?
Thanks rightback, this was a most enjoyable puzzle with lots of Paul’s usual humour. For Paul it was pretty easy and it only took me a couple of hours which is good. I could barely start his “Pretty moribund” puzzle and eventually gave up on it. Had it been a prize puzzle, I would have persevered but I don’t put as much effort into the week-day puzzles. I refuse to be beaten by the prize puzzle and always complete it…well nearly always.
As Davy says, one of Paul’s easier efforts.
‘Pretty moribund’ though was first in though and the rest was done in good time.
“Wee Wee” was last in. The 2 min ref threw/misdirected me a little.
To be honest, we found this Paul too easy for a Saturday.
We rushed through a big part of it in no time, which is very unusual for us.
Most of the clues were uncomplicated, especially in the Southern part of the grid.
24ac (IN A STEW) was almost Rufian.
In 14ac we didn’t understand why OR was clued as ‘yellow’.
Gold is a dark kind of yellow, maybe true, but why not using ‘gold’ itself, since ‘golden eggs’ makes a perfect combination?
In 4d we found the ‘a’ in ‘a hundred’ somewhat misleading – we expected ‘ac’ to be a part of the solution instead of just ‘c’.
And slightly annoying to encounter the H for ‘heroin’ again, although the surface needed it.
All in all, not much wrong with this crossword, but not very special either.
In fact, we found that, in the end, it was MORE OR LESS saved by the escapades of
His Holy Naughtiness (as in 5d and 7d).
Sil
“In 14ac we didn’t understand why OR was clued as ‘yellow’”
In heraldry, ‘or’ is the term for yellow (like ‘sable’ is black and ‘gules’ is red.)
John, thank you for the explanation.
That’s clear then, although our friend Wiki (on their Heraldry page) says “Or (gold)”.
Apart from that, I still think ‘golden eggs’ is a missed opportunity.
But let’s not make a fuss about this.
Thoroughly enjoyed this one loved 3 22 which kept me smiling for most of the day because I wasnt expecting to come up with this answer. For me much better than Pauls crossword midweek
Did we miss it but cannot see the solution for 17 ac.
nonchalant
17a was GENETIC – GENE (Kelly) IT (sex appeal) reversed C[overed]
It’s true that this was pretty easy by Paul’s standards – and there was an easy Araucaria a few days later that lulled me into believing I was getting good at this crossword lark. Anyway, easy or not, this was typically good Paul fun – I do enjoy his schoolboy smut.
Thanks, Rightback. Good fun from Paul, easy in parts, though it took me a while to see SINBAD THE SAILOR.
Wee-wee was hilarious!
Why HAW = ‘may’ without further comment?
mmarvarq, ‘haw’ and ‘may’ can both refer to the common hawthorn (see here). Sorry, I should have been more explicit here but had to rattle off this week’s blog.
In response to the ‘yellow’/’golden’ debate, I don’t think ‘golden’ = OR would be accurate since ‘or’ in that sense is a noun only (meaning [the colour of] a gold or yellow tincture used in heraldry), so it would have to be ‘gold eggs’ which maybe isn’t quite as good.