No “smut” that I noticed, but the usual quota of witty and well-constructed (though mostly quite easy, I thought) clues. Thanks to Paul
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | MATADOR | A TAD (slightly) in (“clothed by”) MOR[e]- definition “one in a sequined costumre”? | ||||||
| 5. | BICYCLE | “Too tired” is a homophone of “two-tyred”, which a bicycle is. | ||||||
| 9. | SWISS | Anagram (“cuckoo”) of last letters of clockS chocolateS snoW alpS heidI – these things being things that are thought of as typically or originally Swiss (though, despite Orson Welles’s famous like in ‘The Third man’, the clocks were invented in Germany, at least according to QI) | ||||||
| 10. | SEE DOUBLE | SEE + DOUBLE (a large drink), and a possible effect of drinking one | ||||||
| 11. | LOGARITHMS | (ALMOST RIGH[t])*. John Napier invented (or, depending on your point of view, discovered) logarithms | ||||||
| 12. | BEAM | Double definition – beam of light, or a supporting beam (which is probably heavy) | ||||||
| 14. | JUSTIN BIEBER | JUST (barely) IN (trendy) BI[g] [w]EBER. Whatever one’s musical taste, it’s surely impossible not to have heard of this teen idol.. | ||||||
| 18,26. | WHEN HARRY MET SALLY | HEN HARRY (=to badger) + METS (NY baseball team or side) in WALLY ( a dork). A film (“picture”), famous for Meg Ryan’s demonstration of a fake orgasm in a restaurant, followed by another customer saying “I’ll have what she’s having” | ||||||
| 22. | ZIMBABWEAN | I’M (Paul is, or Paul’s) + W[ife] in BABE (cutie), all in ZAN[y] | ||||||
| 25. | DALAI LAMA | (A LAD)< + (A MALI)< | ||||||
| 27. | DEPLETE | P[ine] in DELETE | ||||||
| 28. | HUNDRED | H[o]UND RED (wine) . A ton is slang for 100 , e.g. 100mph or £100 | ||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 1,23. | MUSCLE BEACH | (CLUB A SCHEME)*. Muscle Beach is a training area for bodybuilders, so “a strip of beef” | ||||||
| 2. | THINGY | THIN G[u]Y | ||||||
| 3. | DISTRAUGHT | IS T[rouble] in DRAUGHT | ||||||
| 4. | RESIT | I in REST | ||||||
| 5. | BEER MONEY | (A fairly obvious) Cryptic definition | ||||||
| 6. | CROC | Hidden in volcaniC ROCk. “Diminutive” referring to the word itself, not the animal | ||||||
| 7. | COBWEBBY | BOW (front) less its middle O+ EBB (drop) in COY (modest) | ||||||
| 8. | EVERMORE | VERMONT less NT in ERE | ||||||
| 13. | RIVER BASIN | (BIN ARRIVES)* | ||||||
| 15. | TERMINATE | R[ubbish] in [Tracey] EMIN in TATE (Gallery). I don’t know whether Paul is hinting at his own opinion of Ms Emin’s work here.. | ||||||
| 16. | TWO-SIDED | DOWDIEST* | ||||||
| 17. | MEGAFLOP | L FAG (cigarette, smoke) in POEM, all reversed. Abbreviation of Million (mega) FLoating-point OPerations (per second), a measure of processor speed. | ||||||
| 19. | FELLER | A feller chops down trees, and a man is a fellow or, slangily, “feller” | ||||||
| 20. | UNDYED | Someone revived might be said to have “un-died” | ||||||
| 24,21. | LIFE SPAN | (PAIN SELF)* | ||||||
‘Witty and well-constructed’, yes Andrew.
‘Quite easy’, not so sure, at least not from where I’m sitting.
Very enjoyable though.
Thanks to Paul and Andrew for the blog.
Thanks Andrew. I too enjoyed this with clever constructions sprinkled throughout and a light touch. I also found it on the easy side, racing through it in under 15 mins. which is not common for me. To ToniL, I think a lot depends on getting attuned to Paul’s style. He has been may favourite setter for a long time and I rarely have any difficulty. I frequently fail to finish a Rufus puzzle however, in spite of his brief to set an easy Monday offering.
On the difficult side for Paul I thought. The clue for JUSTIN BIEBER was especially fine and had me chuckling.
In today’s Times which I blogged, 23 Slightly nervy, ultimately, when wrapping “present” that’s primed!(2,3,5) also used the identical device of “slightly” for “a tad” (1A in Paul)
What are the chances?
Maybe the Times today is also the work of Paul?
Thanks Andrew. Re HKColin’s whizz through at 2#, it just goes to show how one day you’re on the wavelength, the next you’re not. I failed in the top left, with 1d never occurring to me as a match for 23d and the construction of 1a making me think of a comparison (more) with an -ier ending. BIEBER rang a truly tiny tinkle, MEGAFLOP one a wee bit louder. This was harder I thought than Paul et al’s recent Prize puzzles.
Thanks to Andrew and Paul
I found this a real struggle, with frequent recourse to the “Check” button and other electronic resources, so not very enjoyable for me. “Muscle beach” was found through one of these resources – that term had completely passed me by.
Quite a lot where I had to guess the answer, then try (often unsuccessfully) to work out the parsing – 11a, 14a, 18a, 22a, 7d and 8d for example.
I did like BICYCLE, though.
I usually enjoy Paul’s puzzles but I was not at all on his wavelength today: I failed to solve 24/21 & 13d, and I could not parse 5a, 18/26, 17d, 7d.
New for me was MUSCLE BEACH. Like muffin@6, I needed wikipedia to solve & parse this clue, and I also used the “check” button” a lot.
I liked 6d, 15d, 12a, 10a & 2d and my favourite was 25a DALAI LAMA.
Thanks for the blog, Andrew.
Paul is always difficult for us. The surfaces of the clues were often so well written as to conceal the setter’s intention for a long time. It was 17d and 22a which we couldn’t get without recourse to electronic resources!
Thanks for the crossword, Paul and for the blog, Andrew.
Thanks, Andrew
I’m one of those who found this a bit harder than most recent Paul puzzles, but that just made the enjoyment last a bit longer.
Amusing and ingenious clues – BICYCLE was one of the last in for me, with a groan and a smile. I starred 5a, 9a, 11a, 12a, 27a, 15d, 24,21 for various reasons. Rather a lot.
Thanks, Andrew.
Well, I would call myself one of those normally “on Paul’s wavelength” but this was not an easy solve for me. (Perhaps having to do it at the end of the day doesn’t help but still…)
Like Gervase, I’m not complaining though! 🙂
btw, in “When Harry met Sally”, Rob Reiner (the director) gave the line “I’ll have what she’s having” to his mother!
Found this crossword incredibly difficult. I normally finish Paul’s crosswords within 30 min. Even after 60 minutes had some clues unsolved.
I am sorry to disagree with such an eminent solver as Andrew but I don’t believe that anyone has ever been referred to as undied. In fact there are few reliable records of dead people being revived. Also I feel that bleaching your hair is not the same as dyeing your hair as bleach takes colour out and dye puts it in. As a result I found this clue spoiled an (sometimes over-elaborately) ingenious puzzle.
I was pleased by the absence of smut but mildly distressed by the use of babe and cutie which is the sort of terminology that should have been consigned to the rubbish bin by now (along with certain tennis commenters).
The clues with names are interesting.
14 and 15 suggest that Paul is an admirer of neither Bieber nor Emin.
25 has more than one allusion to the Dalai Lama’s life.
11 is semi-&lit with an extended definition of Napier’s work.
18,26’s famous scene certainly involves eating in New York. I can’t remember if chicken was involved.
Could dork and badger also be relevant?
Why Keats, in particular, in 17, je me demande. Certainly his poems were not well received when first published and acclaimed only after his death. A flop who became mega posthumously?
As to Paul’s wife I hesitate to conjecture.
Count me as another who found this on the difficult side for Paul. Maybe it was the absence of smut!
The clue for BICYCLE had me fooled for a while. Paul used to use this device quite a lot but hasn’t done so as much of late, so I wasn’t looking for it.
It must be me who’s a bit odd.
I normally struggle with Paul’s settings, but found this a steady solve with pleasant witty touches.
“Whatever one’s musical taste, it’s surely impossible not to have heard of this teen idol”. Really? Never heard of him, and having done a bit of checkeing on the web, I wish I still hadn’t. Will any but his oversexed female fans remember him in twenty years time? And, it would seem a bit of a prat to boot (some may be offended by this) http://www.tmz.com/2013/07/10/justin-bieber-restaurant-mop-bucket-piss-pee-urinate-video-bill-clinton/
Needless to say this meant I got stuck.
Tom Hutton:
No, I don’t care much for those words either, but they’re not profane and the fact is they exist.
Seems you’re far from alone re the tennis presenter:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/john-inverdales-who-would-you-rather-2013071175553
Sadly, I got ALGORITHMS instead of LOGARITHMS- my anagrams are better than my maths! So I was unable to get MUSCLE BEACH to finish. Tsk!
A harder than a usual Paul for me. The cluing as ever was fair and sufficient to get there without the need for “electronic aids” or “buttons”.
I’d also never geard of “Muscle Beach” but “strip of beef” was a good guide to look for anagram fodder for “muscle”. Luckily Mr Bieber was in the news very recently and that was my only encounter with him!
Tom @13 Had a bad day? I was mildly distressed by the absence of smut but pleased to see the use of “babe” and “cutie” 🙂 What, I wonder, would you suggest as alternatives for these words which have a right and proper context? I suggest you may be delving in the same metaphorical bin to which you wish they had been consigned. GOY 😉
Thanks to Andrew (a real smarty pants today) and Paul
Thanks, Paul for the entertainment and Andrew for the blog (love the car!).
Thought I wasn’t going to get into this at the first glance but then enjoyed it once I was on the wavelength.
Liked WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and BICYCLE once the penny dropped.
Like others I hadn’t heard of MUSCLE BEACH but was thinking along the lines of beefcake so it fell in eventually.
Giovanna x
Thanks Paul and Andrew
Found this very entertaining and by no means easy. As rhotician has pointed out – a number of very clever &lit surfaces to the people clues.
Last one in was MUSCLE BEACH and had to look up the meaning of it.
Thought that it was going to be a 17 at Trent Bridge until that brilliant spark of life by the new young kid!
Thanks Andrew and Paul
I only finished this this morning after trying it in dribs and drabs in the latter part of yesterday. A clever puzzle, which I found quite hard.
I did not know NY Mets so thanks for that.