Guardian Cryptic NĀ° 25,986 by Paul

by

The puzzle may be found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/cryptic/25986. Unless the Grauniad has got its act together, this address is the only way to get at the crossword; the usual links are missing (even if you search for 25986, it will tell you that it does not exist). Thus my normal inclusion of the address may be of particular use.

Forgive me if I feel that someone is out to get me with this puzzle. For quite a while I was unable even to locate it; and when I did hit on the right open sesame, it was not an easy solve – I had to root around in the bottom corners to get any sort of toehold. It did yield eventually, but then there was the problem of blogging it. The utility that I normally use was also unable to find the puzzle, so I had to resort to a massive cut-and-paste job. I must crave your indulgence even more than usual for any shortcomings in the result. Then there are the three clues which for no very obvious reasons are enclosed in square brackets – what’s going on here? I wonder if they might be editorial comment, that the clues are on the borderline of being too obscure for a plain cryptic. However, it is an excellent crossword, with a spicing of Pauline naughtiness.

Across
1. See 4
– See 4
4,1,19. Expensive entertaining revolting upper-class twit, promising to miss starter that’s calorific (6,6,7)
STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING An envelope (‘entertaining’) of ICKY (‘revolting’) plus TOFF (‘upper-class twit’) in STEEP (‘expensive’) plus [b]UDDING (‘promising’) without its first letter (‘to miss starter’).
9,16. What’s testable in a crash? (4,4)
SEAT BELT An anagram (‘in a crash’) of ‘testable’ with an extended definition (aka {semi-}&lit).
10. [Still sexy, old fruit wiping rear in pub] (10)
PHOTOGRAPH An envelope (‘in’) of HOT (‘sexy’) plus O (‘old’) plus GRAP[e] (‘fruit’) without its last letter (‘wiping rear’) in PH (Public House, ‘pub’).
11. See 6
– See 6
12. Brown trapping Blair finally, Labour leader cut short in dispatch (8)
TRANSMIT An envelope (‘trapping’) of R (‘BlaiR finally’) in TAN (‘brown’) plus SMIT[h] (Labour leader cut short’).
13. Analyser put paper cups in wiggly line (4,5)
LEFT BRAIN An envelope (‘in’) of FT (‘paper’) plus BRA (‘cups’ – a novel twist on a very familiar particle) in LEIN, an anagram (‘wiggly’) of ‘line’.
15. Superior sticks around (4)
SMUG A reversal (‘around’) of GUMS (‘sticks’).
16. See 9
– See 9
17. Canal man hurried to tether boat, not heading back (2,7)
DE LESSEPS An envelope (‘to tether’) of [v]ESSEL (‘boat’) without its first letter (‘not heading’) in SPED (‘hurried’), all reversed (‘back’). The canal man is Ferdinand de Lesseps, developer of the Suez Canal.
21. [Barbarian crossing street, little time for uniform] (8)
CONSTANT An envelope (‘crossing’) of ST (‘street’) in CONAN (‘barbarian’ with reference to the pulp fiction character, and eponymous hero of films) plus T (‘little time’).
22. Spurs getting to grips with new balls? (6)
GONADS An envelope (‘getting to grips with’) of N (‘new’) in GOADS (‘spurs’). The question mark justifies the “definition” by example.
24. Do it in dry surroundings ā€” this dripping? (10)
STALACTITE An envelope (‘in … surroundings’) of ACT (‘do’) plus ‘it’ in STALE (‘dry’).
25. Female cuckoo steals one (4)
MAID An envelope (‘steals’) of I (‘one’) in MAD (‘cuckoo’).
26. Again, arrange to see Blackpool, perhaps (6)
RESORT RE-SORT (‘again, arrange’)
27,20. Unknown craft not to be trusted breaking surface at sea (6,6)
FLYING SAUCER An envelope (‘breaking’) of LYING (‘not to be trusted’) in FSAUCER, an anagram (‘at sea’) of ‘surface’.
Down
1. Man dressed as Scotsman upset English just the same (3,4)
THE LIKE An envelope (the implied in) of HE (‘man’) in TLIK, a reversal (‘upset’ in a down light) of KILT (in KILT, ‘dressed as Scotsman’) plus E (‘English’).
2. Amusing pockets to 9 (5)
FUTON An envelope (‘pockets’) of ‘to’ in FUN (‘amusing’).
3. King penguin? (7)
EMPEROR Double definition.
5. [Try to catch hockey initially, or a bit of some cricket, perhaps?] (6)
THORAX An envelope (‘to catch’) of H (‘Hockey initially’) plus ‘or’ in TAX (‘try’).
6,11. Sardine this moronic, oddly fishy as a 16 down? (9,6)
CHRISTMAS DINNER An anagram of ‘sardine this’ plus MRNC (‘MoRoNiC oddly’).
7. Wages rocketing, game not half barking! (7)
YAPPING A charade of YAP, a reversal (‘rocketing’ in a down light!) of PAY (‘wages’) plus PING[pong] (‘game not half’).
8. Two painters blended in red mark (4-4,5)
PORT-WINE STAIN A charade of an anagram (‘blended’) of ‘two painters’ plus ‘in. A port-wine stain is not only what you get by knocking over a glass of Fonseca (perish the thought), but a prominent birthmark, often on the face.
14. Professional calling, else fashioned in lies? (9)
TELESALES An envelope (‘in’) of ELES, an anagram (‘fashioned’) of ‘else’ in TALES (‘lies’).
16. Fish left in hat (7)
BLOATER An envelope (‘in’) of L (‘left’) in BOATER (‘hat’). Very familiar.
18. Ovum has to do well, roughly speaking? (3,4)
EGG CELL An approximate homophone (‘roughly speaking’) of EXCEL (‘to do well’). Or maybe the ‘roughly’ encompasses the looseness of the definition.
19. See 4
– See 4
20. See 27
– See 27
23. Monsoon ending, doctor between two thunderclouds (5)
NIMBI An envelope (‘between’) of MB (‘doctor’) in N (‘monsooN ending’) plus II ‘two’. Strictly, a nimbus (here with one of the possible plurals) is a rain-cloud, and a cumulonimbus is a thunderhead.

32 comments on “Guardian Cryptic NĀ° 25,986 by Paul”

  1. Thanks PO – you did well to put all that together by hand. Same solving experience as you and likewise re assessment of the puzzle.

    From memory at least one recent Paulster has been smut-free but succeeded in showing that he’s worth his weight as a setter on cluing excellence alone. Here we have both – maybe some of the well-hidden defs were a high-point.

    Got a couple straight off but then took a while to get going – but well-worth the effort.

    When did this “sticky” caper catch on? I don’t recall puds of my childhood being called “sticky” – even when they were. Surely it’s just a marketing strategy to encourage you to have your over-the-odds priced afters at the pub/resto.

  2. Thanks for the blog PeterO. I think the forces of evil were conspiring against you.

    I did this from the PDF (link from Guardian comments section for yesterday’s Orlando). There are no square brackets on the PDF. 5 down is the same as your version, 21 down begins with “The” but is otherwise the same.

    10 across has an almost entirely different clue which is probably more difficult: Old backward language of criminals in pubs, still (10)

    Ph (pub) o (old) togra (language reversed) ph (the other pub)

    I agree it was quite tricky – I nearly gave up on THE LIKE, before the penny dropped. GONADS was funny!

  3. Thanks Peter, especially for how to locate the darned thing. I went to your blog, scrupulously avoiding looking down, and saw the link in your line 1. Very enjoyable puzzle, with problems only in the top left corner.

  4. Thanks Peter – there’s still no link to this puzzle on the main crosswords page, but there are no square-bracketed clues that I can see, so they must have at least sorted that out.

    Good fun from Paul as always, but does anyone agree with me that 3d is a very weak clue? I guessed EMPEROR for it immediately but didn’t write it in as it seemed too obvious. OK, an Emperor is a kind of penguin, and a sort of king too, but the meanings are much too close to make this an adequate double definition (and there’s a King Penguin too).

  7. I’m not convinced by “SEAT” as a definition for “FUTON”. The Japanese word means a padded quilt, normally used as a mattress for a bed – and by extension, the bed itself. It can also mean a cushion for Zen meditation, but I’ve never heard of that usage in English. In English, it generally means a Japanese-style bed. I have found an English definition stating that when a futon is placed on a frame it can be used as a chair, but in that case I’d have thought it’s the frame that’s the chair, with the futon being only the cushion.

  8. Thank you so much Paul for helping me to find this today . It is my birthday and was so disappointed when I first looked online. It was a cracking puzzle with some nice bits of naughtiness.

  9. @Andrew #4. Agree with your initial argument, but doesn’t the fact (as you yourself have indicated) that there’s a “King Penguin” save the clue?

  10. J-Boh @7 – I had the same thoughts but Chambers: “1. A type of sofa bed … a simple low frame with a matress laid loosely on top. 2. More properly, the mattress alone.

    Thanks, PeterO!

  11. J-Boh @7 – I had the same thoughts but Chambers: “1. A type of sofa bed … a simple low frame with a mattress laid loosely on top. 2. More properly, the mattress alone.

    Thanks, PeterO!

  12. Thanks for the blog, PeterO as well as the link to the puzzle. I would not have found the puzzle otherwise.

    I failed to solve 18d EGG CELL, and could not parse 4/1/19 and 17a.

    The clues I liked were 25a, 8d, 9/16, 5d, 1d, 13a, 6/11 and my favourites were 10a PHOTOGRAPH (online version not PDF version!) and 27/20 FLYING SAUCER.

    New discovery for me today was DE LESSEPS.

  13. Well done, PeterO, on struggling through the various obstacles. Enjoyed the puzzle here, with 17A last in from crossers and clear wordplay (didn’t actually know the name), so glad to see here it was correct.

  14. Thanks Paul and PeterO
    I found the crossword from the link given on yesterday’s Guardian. I was puzzled about the square brackets too, and at least one clue – 10ac – changed later (I prefer the original).

    I loved LEFT BRAIN and GONADS, but I agree with Andrew @ 4 about EMPEROR. The only explanation for the clue that occurs to me is that Paul was not aware of the King Penguin as a separate species?

  15. Thanks Paul and especially PeterO for your efforts this morning.

    But of a mess from a technical point of view it seems, which is a real shame as this is a belter of a puzzle. Muffyword @2 must be right regarding the square brackets – two of the three clues are either very slightly different (addition of “The” at the start of 21), or completely revised in the printed paper – was 10 a case of Paul being told “come on, mate, is that really necessary” perhaps? Don’t know what happened with 5 though as it is the same in the paper – maybe Hugh was unconvinced by it but Paul managed to successfully fight his corner?

    Plenty of pencil chewing from me at any rate – didn’t get a single one until De Lesseps dredged his way out of the memory banks (and the envelope construction helped me to spell his name correctly), and even when the long foody answers fell into place there was a lot to do.

    LEFT BRAIN was brilliant, EGG CELL snort worthy and GONADS very, well, Paul. Not convinced by EMPEROR though – my feelings were the same as Andrew @4.

  16. Thanks PeterO and Paul

    I did this on the hard copy where, as noted, 10a is quite differently clued.

    An excellent tricky puzzle with some very misleading clues. In some cases one had to see the answer and then puzzle why – 4,1,19 is a good example where I suspect few people outside the brain of Britain champion stakes could put the answer together simply from the clue.

    I ticked several clues on the way – 10a, 22a, 1d, 2d, 6,11d and 8d. I suspect that such ticks reflect the immediate pleasure of solving, and there are certainly quite a few others that are very good in retrospect.

  17. I’d be surprised if the square brackets are meant to indicate hard or obscure clues – I thought CONSTANT and THORAX were far, far easier than, say, DE LESSEPS or LEFT BRAIN (In fact, 21a seemed almost trivial, although maybe the extra “the” is what made it obvious to me). At a guess, I’d say that a draft version of the crossword went up by mistake, and these were just markers to indicate clues that haven’t been checked or the like.

  18. tupu @16.

    Completely agree regarding STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING. For my part I had the P and D for pudding in place from the crossers and that paired with the letter count set off the light bulb. Reverse engineered from there.

  19. 3d has a ? This indicates that it is a sort of a class of a joke. The point being that an emperor penguin is NOT a king penguin.

    Seems to have laid an egg.

  20. Got most of this eventually, but had no idea why several of my answers were right! Like Mitz @18, I reverse engineered STP, and quite a few of the others.

    Completely stuck on 10a (from the revised clue) as I had SCRIPT ending it for quite a while, and even though I had all the crossing letters, 1d.

    Quite enjoyed the struggle though – thanks to Peter & Paul.

  21. The trounble with 3d is thyat the meanings are too closeh, with the animal named afet r the monarch/ rumler. There are not menay blemisyhesd on this fine puzzle though.,

  22. Interesting puzzle and blog – thanks.

    New words for me were:

    Trounble, thyat, closeh, afet, rumler, menay & blemisyhesd. šŸ˜‰

  24. I see the specoialisty next week, so at loeast i’ll have some new drughs to paly witjh.

    Cheers!!

  26. I only got round to this one online while I was eating my evening meal so I missed all the technical shenanigans.

    I found this harder than a lot of Paul’s puzzles but got there eventually. Once I had enough checkers I entered STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING without bothering to unpick the wordplay. My last three in were DE LESSEPS, LEFT BRAIN, and PORT WINE STAIN.

  27. I too missed all the “shenanigans” as I never get to the crossword before 7pm.

    A nice difficult puzzle from Paul which for a long time I thought was going to defeat me.

    Got there in the end though. Last in was DE LESSEPS who I’ve never heard of. My tethered boat was for a long time just the SS which luckily led me eventually to he right chap.

    Favourite clue was 24A.

    It is astonishing just how often the Guardian manage to cock up the crossword despite having a “Crossword Editor”. Surely the crossword for a particular day should be “put to bed” days before it’s publication?

    Also it amazes me that the IT guys are unable to use the same format as the main puzzle for the Azed, Genius etc rather than that awful unusable java offering. (A shocking indictment of their skill levels in my opinion). It doesn’t exactly enhance the reputation of the Guardian crossword management either. How hard can it be to sort it out? (I have offered! In fact I am still available. šŸ˜‰ )

    Thanks to PeterO and Paul.

  28. Thanks Paul and PeterO

    I usually use the URL from the previous day and increment the puzzle number by 1 (2 on Mondays) so was not affected by technical problem. Did try to find a link between the three bracketed clues for a while before coming here though.

    Overall I found this pretty tough going – harder than his prize from last week!

    Had to start off in SE corner and although found the PUDDING, it took quite a while to find the STICKY TOFFEE part (more acquainted with the sticky date one). Only after reading through the Suez Canal history, was de LESSEPS fully sorted – even knowing that sped was involved somehow.

    Also wasn’t comfortable with FUTON / seat but that was the obvious answer.

    Last in was the very tricky LEFT BRAIN which actually had to be put into action to get it! Liked TELESALES as well – great surface.

  29. A very enjoyable puzzle and i see Paul reduced his long letter anagram but Jebus!!
    Not a single solver ever works out these 26/32/45/62 letter anagrams/charades.
    It is a guess at best from the enumeration and a vague sense of the letters, at least for me, then if you have the time go back and reverse engineer it, they supply not an aha moment but more an oh so moment.
    But it is a chore rather than a joy even if the resulting phrase is something of interest or amusement to the solver.

  30. I thought this was a terrific puzzle. To add to the general weirdness which surrounded this puzzle’s epiphany and gives it a kind of ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ quality, I (finally) printed it out in one ‘print version’ on Friday, took it to a restaurant where I was meeting my family, solved half, left it behind, printed it out again on Saturday, finished it…and only then discovered that it was, in part, a different puzzle. As it happened, I seemed to be helped by the new ARGOT version of the clue, the other version having baffled me the evening before.

    If the puzzle had adopted barred-grid practices, with the multi-word clues not enumerated, I would never have finished!

  31. stiofain @29

    “Not a single solver ever..”. Really? “…at least for me”. That’s better.

    “A very enjoyable puzzle… but it is a chore”.

    Had you drink taken?

  32. Another corker from the Grauniad & Paul. I love it when the Friday puzzle puts me in position of not even starting the Prize until late Sunday (I like to have a few “in the bank”, don’t don’t how I would survive without a fresh grid whenever I need it!).

    Random comments:

    Here in the US a “futon” is a folding Japanese-style bed, and always can be turned into a couch, being its whole point in a small apartment or a guest room.

    10 was superb. I had to break it down and build it up, with “argot” being the keystone. Like many clues here, I had all the right bits in my head (here focusing on “still” as perhaps the definition), but lost them then found them again when I worked through the cryptic part with the right ideas in front of me. I love a clue like that.

    The same goes for 27/20. I wrote down “UFO” early on in my scribble space. When I went to OneLook with ?a?c?r and saw “saucer” I felt so embarrassed I smiled, then laughed out loud.

    Mr. de Lesseps also played a major role in the Panama Canal, which is where I found him. Hemispherical bias at play? He got bored once he had solved all the problems with building it and resigned.

    Loved SEAT BELT.

    And as far as the really long clue (4/1/19), I used both the definition and clue to slowly build it. Coffee/toffee, hmmm. Twit = toff, so I might have that. Finally got PUDDING. Went back to the cryptic part to chase down 4, where I was working with “dear” for a long time, but then “steep” came to me and I finished building it.

    The Penguin paperback clue was perfect – a tight little double definition in the middle of a swamp of walruses. Knowing there is a King Penguin as well, thanks to the blog, just makes it even better.

    I put this in the top ten running for this year.

    Thanks to all involved!

    PS, to the IT people, can you move the captcha to just above the “submit” button, the way the rest of the world does it? I know these puzzles are very “lateral” in their solving, but this part of the blog should be “linear”!

Comments are closed.