I enjoyed this very much, it has the stamp of a Paul puzzle all over it. My favourite was 7dn for its intriguing simplicity. Thank you Paul.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BRANDY | Kind heart of Malaysian getting warmer? (6) |
| BRAND (kind) malaYsian (heart=middle letter) – a warming drink | ||
| 4 | SHUFTI | Seal broken by force at first, before I look (6) |
| SHUT (seal) including (broken by) F (force) before I – definitoin is ‘look’ | ||
| 9 | See 16 | |
| 10 | PEARL DIVER | Criminal prevailed before ending in slammer, one going down for a long time (5,5) |
| PREVAILED* (criminal=anagram) then slammeR (ending of) | ||
| 11 | WINTRY | Take gold and go cold (6) |
| WIN (take gold) then TRY (go) | ||
| 12 | GOODYEAR | Annus mirabilis for the rubber man (8) |
| double/cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | SNOW WHITE | 6’s pretty flaky character? (4,5) |
| cryptic definition – pretty since the mirror declares Snow White to be ‘the fairest of them all’, flaky because of snow flakes | ||
| 15 | CARD | Comedian, one in a suit? (4) |
| double definition | ||
| 16,9 | FOREPLAY | Bit of fun with possible role to impress partner, initially — later a 23 26? (8) |
| F (bit of fun, first letter) then ROLE* (possible=anagram) including P (first of partner) followed by (later) A happY (ending of) – definition is a cheeky &lit | ||
| 17 | FREQUENCY | How often what needs translating into another language not entirely okay in the end (9) |
| QUE (what, translated) into FRENCh (another language, not entirely) okaY (end of) – definition is ‘how often’ | ||
| 21 | HOUSETOP | With sound method pack it in roof (8) |
| sounds like “how stop” (method, pack it in) – definition is ‘roof’ | ||
| 22 | AT HOME | In a book, heroic opening captured (2,4) |
| A TOME (book) including H (first letter of heroic) – definition is ‘in’ | ||
| 24 | PARLIAMENT | Creator of life inspiring Irishman in assembly (10) |
| PARENT (creator of life) including (inspiring, breathing in) LIAM (Irishman’s name) | ||
| 25 | PHAL | Hot stuff seen in photograph album (4) |
| seen in photograPH ALbum – a very hot curry | ||
| 26 | See 23 | |
| 27 | STAYED | Remained proper, by the sound of it (6) |
| sounds like “staid” (proper) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BELGIAN | Sax was being almost all jazzy? (7) |
| anagram (jazzy) of BEING and AL (almost all) – the inventor of the saxophone (Adolphe Sax) was Belgian | ||
| 2 | AS YET | So far away several yetis entering Tibet’s most westerly extremes (2,3) |
| Away Several Yetis Entering Tibet (first, most westerly letters of) – definition is ‘so far’ | ||
| 3 | DIPTYCH | Drop tray, emptied onto church’s work of art (7) |
| DIP (drop) TraY (emptied out, no middle letters) then CH (church) | ||
| 5 | HELIOS | Earth: then what rises? The Sun! (6) |
| SOIL (earth) EH (what) reversed (rises) | ||
| 6 | FAIRY TALE | This in fact not half a distortion of reality? (5,4) |
| FAct (not half) REALITY* – I can’t quite put my finger on the definition, sort of &lit-ish | ||
| 7 | ICELAND | Where you may see reindeer I see antelope (7) |
| I C (see) ELAND (antelope) – where you may see reindeer | ||
| 8 | GANGSTA RAPPER | Upset tabloid concealing dread, rubbished paper as aggressive performer (7,6) |
| RAG (tabloid) reversed (upset) including (concealing)ANGST (dread) then PAPER* (anagram=rubbished) | ||
| 14 | WORD SALAD | Incoherent speech, so a drawl collapsed and died (4,5) |
| (SO A DRAWL)* collapsed=anagram then D (died) | ||
| 16 | FOOTAGE | Pay on time for some film (7) |
| FOOT (pay, the bill) on AGE (time) | ||
| 18 | QUARTET | In which 16 9, say? (7) |
| “foreplay” sounds like “four play”, a quartet | ||
| 19 | COMMAND | Order, no doubt for starters (7) |
| COMMA (,) No Doubt (first letters of, starters) | ||
| 20 | STRAIN | Tension in the air (6) |
| double definition | ||
| 23,26 | HAPPY ENDING | 13 has one, as a friend of hers is dying (5,6) |
| HAPPY (one of the seven dwarfs, friend of Snow White) ENDING (is dying) – Snow White the fairy tale has a happy ending | ||
*anagram
Thanks Paul and Peedee
Agree that this was a good (and for me challenging) prize puzzle. Came here to get the parsing of MARGATE RAPPER (aka Mic Righteous) which I had struggled with all week – with a nagging and increasing doubt – and disappointed but not surprised to see the correct GANGSTA !!
Thought that HELIOS and PEARL DIVER were very good and were my last two correct ones in.
Was able to follow the quite amusing trail (as it turned out) of linked clues which broke the back of the puzzle after taking a while to get started.
Think that ‘This’ must be the definition in 6 – taken in context with the surface reading if the rest of the clue – worked for me.
An enjoyable solve notwithstanding the drawing of my error in 8.
I enjoyed this puzzle by Paul although I wasn’t sure how to parse 18a, 19a, 21a.
My favourites were ICELAND, FREQUENCY, PARLIAMENT, HAPPY ENDING, BRANDY.
New words for me were SHUFTI, WORD SALAD.
Thanks for the blog, PeeDee.
Thanks PeeDee. The 16,9 was a bit of fun but later the puzzle got tough. Help (TEAS) needed for 21 which I get only now (thanks for that). “Sax” on Google revealed its national origin. Finally the HELIOS light dawned: great clue. Thanks Paul.
Many thanks all, loved this!!
Many Thanks PeeDee & Paul
This was an enjoyable struggle and, even though I opted for BELGIAN, I did not fully understand it until now.
So who said that there aren’t any famous Belgians?
I opted for NAUGHTY RAPPER because, knowing Paul, I know that he likes to be naughty.
Thanks PeedDee and Paul
I enjoyed this clever puzzle overall and particularly liked a number of clues – 10a, 13a, 16,9, 22a, 2d, and 23,26.
Thanks for the blog. It took me a while to spot the COMMA in 19 and I also wondered about the &lit of 6. FOREPLAY was a real LOL, genius.
I think the &lit at 6 works if you think of a “fairy tale” in the sense of an outrageous lie rather than a children’s/folk tale.
Loads of fun as usual with Paul. I’d also never heard of WORD SALAD. I particularly liked PEARL DIVER and SHUFTI.
Thanks PeeDee,
This is the smallest number of comments that I remember for a prize puzzle. It was very enjoyable though and
took me a good while to get into. I couldn’t parse COMMAND (very sneaky) or FREQUENCY but the rest was fine.
Thanks for the fun Paul.
Lest anyone think the number of comments comments on the quality of the crossword, let me echo the sentiments above.
Great crossword, tough (for us) but fair and plenty of the humour you expect from Paul (and don’t find from certain other setters) that makes his offerings so much fun.