This was an enjoyable challenge from Paul, perhaps not his most taxing, but as with his puzzles, I just had to chip away at it. The most difficult task for me was to parse 9 across. Thanks to Paul. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links to the puzzle. Please enclose any comments on them in double brackets. Thank you.]]
Across
1 One dying to imprison unknown twins, life — criminal (9)
EMBEZZLER : EMBER(something like a piece of coal, whose fire is dying) containing(to imprison) { ZZ(twins of the symbol for an unknown quantity in mathematics) + “life” minus(… not for) “if” }.
6 Wolves team prepare for trip abroad? (4)
PACK : Double defn: 1st: The collective noun for a group;team of wolves. Nice footballing misdirection.
8 Optical illusion ultimately illusory, not sensual (8)
PLATONIC : Anagram of(illusory) [OPTICAL + last letter of(ultimately) “illusion”].
9 Composer before Liszt sounding note for Sainsbury’s? (6)
CHOPIN : A reverse homophone. “Chopin” placed before(before) “Liszt” is a homophone of(sounding) “shopping list”(a note of things to buy at Sainsbury’s Supermarkets).
I think the homophone, with a bit of stretching, is based on the pronunciation of the answer’s name in his native Polish (where the first syllable of the answer rhymes with “shore”?), or am I Baching up the wrong tree?
10 Look to hold in belly, being short and thick (6)
STUMPY : SPY(to see;to look) containing(to hold in) TUM(a childish word for the stomach;belly).
11 See 26
12 An old team with a gas shortage (6)
ANOXIA : AN + O(abbrev. for “old”) + XI(describing a team, say, of football or cricket, with eleven members) + A.
Answer: A shortage of oxygen, as when someone is suffocating.
15 Spreading disease of huge proportions, half caught (8)
EPIDEMIC : EPIC(of huge proportions, as in a film with “a cast of thousands”) containing(… caught) DEMI-(prefix signifying one half).
16 Europeans from Asia, if back to front? (8)
IBERIANS : A reverse clue. “Iiberians” with its last letter moved to the front(if back to front) gives “Siberian”(one from Siberia, Asia).
19 Music award lame — about right? (6)
GRAMMY : GAMMY(British slang for being injured, especially in the leg;lame) containing(about) R(abbrev. for “right”).
21 Some letters in journalism as the adopted title (8)
MASTHEAD : Hidden in(Some letters in) “journalism as the adopted”.
Answer: The title of a newspaper or magazine as it appears across the front page, usually at the top.
22 Figure out filling to stop decay (6)
DISUSE : SUS(also spelt “suss”, British slang for “to figure out”) contained in(filling) DIE(to stop;to end).
24 Cuckoo swimming through Paris, say? (6)
INSANE : Homophone of(say) “in Seine”(where someone would be if swimming in that river running through Paris).
Defn: Slang for being crazy.
25 Succession witnessed cutting hedge technology (8)
CHAINSAW : CHAIN(a series;a succession of items) + SAW(witnessed with your eyes).
Answer: Cutting ‘edge technology indeed. But surely overkill for hedges.
26,11 Complimentary, as a run-down battery, say? (4,2,6)
FREE OF CHARGE : Cryptic defn: Reference to a flat;run-down battery.
27 Behind time, setter caught in rainstorm finds something waterproof (9)
TARPAULIN : T(abbrev. for “time”) placed before(Behind …) { PAUL(today’s crossword setter) contained in(caught in) anagram of(storm) “rain” }.
Down
1 Uplifting story including chapter for brilliant show (5)
ECLAT : Reversal of(Uplifting, in a down clue) TALE(a story) containing(including) C(abbrev. for “chapter”).
Answer: A brilliant success, effect, etc. and a conspicuous display.
2 President going topless to screen movie kiss for old video recording? (7)
BETAMAX : “Obama”(Barack, current US President) minus its first letter(going topless, in a down clue) containing(to screen) ET(the Steven Spielberg movie) + X(symbol for a kiss).
Answer: The virtually obsolete analogue video recording format that lost out to VHS.
3 Lively metal, not quite grey at the edges (5)
ZINGY : “Zinc”(a metal element) minus its last letter(not quite) + the 2 outermost letters(… at the edges) “grey”.
4 Be like Lear’s Pobble, say, sweet thing (7)
LACTOSE : Homophone of(say) “lack toes”(to be like The Pobble Who Has No Toes, one of Edward Lear’s nonsense verses).
Answer: A sugar occurring in dairy products.
5 Process of renewal with regards to Lance Armstrong’s career (9)
RECYCLING : RE(with regards to;about) CYCLING(Lance Armstrong’s career, with zero chance of renewal, following a lifetime ban).
6 Filthy window around top of house, nothing getting wiped (7)
PROFANE : PANE(a glassed section in a window) containing(around) “roof”(the top of a house) minus(… getting wiped) “o”(the letter representing 0;nothing).
7 Cold fish on record in sticky wrapper (9)
CLINGFILM : C(abbrev. for “cold”) + LING(a codlike foodfish) placed above(on, in a down clue) FILM(to record with a movie camera).
13 Head above dark cloud, perhaps, that requires little thought (2-7)
NO-BRAINER : NOB(British slang for the human head) placed above(above, in a down clue) RAINER(a whimsical term;perhaps for a dark cloud that is potentially a source of rain).
14 Shame meat and beans boiled (9)
ABASEMENT : Anagram of(boiled) [MEAT plus(and) BEANS].
17 Once more, find European president doing a U-turn (7)
RETRACE : Reversal of(doing a U-turn) [ E(abbrev. for “European”) + CARTER(Jimmy, former US president) ].
Defn: Or find once more.
18 Vicious people up for a cocktail (7)
SIDECAR : SID(Vicious, singer with the punk group, the Sex Pistols) + reversal of(up, in a down clue) RACE(a people).
20 Team that’s sexy not reaching the top, embodying gutless side (7)
ARSENAL : “carnal”(relating to sexual appetites, eg. carnal desire) minus its first letter(not reaching the top, in a down clue) containing(embodying) “side” minus its 2 inner letters(… gutless).
22 Short, a work for television, perhaps (5)
DRAMA : [a wee quantity of alcoholic spirit, a drink of the latter being called a short) + A.
23 Feature of Cheltenham, perhaps, in the country (5)
SPAIN : SPA(a mineral spring, a feature of spa towns of which Cheltenham is an example;perhaps) + IN.
===================================================================
For answer to pic5 please click here, for pic6 here.
I particularly liked 26/11, 18d, 8a, 6d and my favourites were 21a MASTHEAD, 4d LACTOSE, 16a IBERIANS & 1a EMBEZZLER.
New word for me was ANOXIA.
Thanks for the blog, scchua.
18d – rev. of RACE – so almost all of them, surely!
Thanks for the blog – completely missed the ha in 21a – as usual.
AS always, a super puzzle – thanks, Paul.
Thanks Paul and scchua
I was unable to parse BETAMAX, RETRACE or ARSENAL. I did like LACTOSE and SIDECAR.
[[The last picture is of models of the PLATONIC solids, and the football team is presumably the ARSENAL?]]
[[Black-eyed BEANS referred to in 14d?]]
Good stuff – particularly liked PROFANE, and just reading ‘cutting hedge technology’ raised a smile. Toyed with ‘desist’ at 22ac, as I didn’t know the alternative spelling of of ‘suss’, though as one with a background in linguistics I should have guessed.
Thanks scchua and Paul.
Mostly pretty straightforward today, especially for Paul, but I was held up and misdirected in a couple of places. I tried “pandemic” at 15, which I thought was justified (pan = universal, i.e. “of huge proportions” + DEMI + C[aught]) and only saw my mistake when I got to 4 and 5. Then at 18 I spent far too long trying to justify “sadists”, again abandoning that idea when I got 25 and 27.
BETAMAX was brilliant.
Thanks JohnR. My mistake has been corrected in the blog – must have been my subconscience digging up bits from previous crosswords.
Thanks, scchua. I think Paul enjoys bunging in the odd provocative “homophone” – but who cares!
You must have gone digging around in the archives to find a picture of Arsenal with trophies – 20 is definitely semi&lit. 🙂
[[Muffin, those are PLATONIC solids, and those are beans but not black-eyed, and the team is Arsenal, but the latter 2 are not the links to the puzzle, as you’ve guessed.]]
Thanks scchua and Paul
An enjoyable offering from Paul with some trappy parsings. I first tried to make sense of ‘masthead’ in 21a as ‘as the’ included in MAD, before seeing the broader inclusion. I also wondered if Paul was in Freudian mode in 20d, with ‘anal’ somehow including r (top of reaching) + s(id)e, before seeing the simpler (c)arnal as the route in.
I liked the cheek of 9a, and also ticked 1a, 8a, and 18d.
[[#3 is the 16th century German astronomer Johannes Kepler who attempted to relate the five extraterrestrial planets known at that time to the five PLATONIC solids.]]
[[ #3 is a Sony Playstation – Sony made the Betamax. #4 – is that Hemingway? Spanish Civil War (23d and 16ac)
Correction [[ #1 is a Sony Playstation – Sony made the Betamax. #2 – is that Hemingway? Spanish Civil War (23d and 16ac)]]
Sorry, new at this!
Thanks sschua. 6a was regrettably easy, opening a track to whizz through this. Until DISUSE at the end when I wasted time trying to parse ‘desist.’ Lots as always to like, so thanks Paul.
Yes, I started with PACK too. Clever stuff throughout, and I liked Paul inserting himself at 27a – he’s done this before, and I should have twigged long before I had given up trying to insert ME.
Had to laugh at CHAINSAW. I had a moan a few days ago about surfaces that barely resemble English, and 25a is hardly a great example of the language, but ‘cutting hedge technology’ is brill.
Another fine puzzle by the Man of Constant Quality.
Just like in most of his crosswords (recently) I breezed through it.
Perhaps, a matter of being completely on his wavelength.
But I hasten to say that I found it very enjoyable as ever.
As to the homophone at 9ac, I had hoped to find an explanation here. Alas.
I just looked in Chambers and saw that there is a ‘normal’ word CHOPIN too: a French (or Scottish) liquid measure. This is indeed pronounced as ‘shoppin’ which would make the clue work. That is, if we accept this change in pronunciation.
Didn’t we have a similar situation recently here – I remember Kathryn’s Dad saying something about it.
My personal rule of thumb regarding homophones is that if you got the answer from the clue, and especially if it made you smile, then no matter what sort of mangled, punnish pronunciation is required it’s fair enough.
Mitz and Sil, see my comment #8. As long as you see the point and it’s funny, what the heck? This subject has been done to death, I know, but that’s why Paul gives us a “homophone” that can’t possibly work unless, perhaps, you belong to the “huntin, fishin” set and talk through your nose backwards.
Mitz@17 & NeilW@18 – I agree. I always approach homophones with some flexibility – they ought to be fun!
Mitz, NeilW and michelle: I am fine with the way you look at it. It’s usually mine as well.
For me the problem here is that the composer Chopin doesn’t sound like shoppin AT ALL. His name is pronounced like “show-pan”. I know that Paul always has a twinkle in his eyes but this one is, in my opinion, so imprecise that I wondered whether he had perhaps something else in mind.
It was just an idea, what I wrote in post #16.
And if no-one (except me) cares, well, let’s just get on with life and be happy! 🙂
Hi Mitz, NeilW and Michelle
I agree too. As NeilW says, we’ve had this countless times before. Paul does not say ‘this is a homophone’. He says ‘sounding …..?’. I cannot understand why so many complaints first define the answer as a ‘homophone’ and then worry that it isn’t one. It’s not a homophone – as say beech and beach – it’s a weak but rather funny pun.
Sorry Sil. I did not realise you had added your comment @ 20 when I stuck my oar in. 🙂
Very enjoyable – thanks Paul and sschua for eminently clear blog as always.
CHOPIN LISZT is a very old joke and none the worse for it. My Japanese wife, who finds most British humour impenetrable, can understand it, so I think it must be fair game for a crossword.
I thought EMBEZZLER was a great clue, and TARPAULIN rather good.
Good puzzle, particularly liked 12a
[[picture 6 is presumably a reference to the nurse Agnes Von Kurowsky who tended Hemminway (from one of the Farewell to Arms films perhaps), picture 7 is the official Gramaphone Awards logo]]
[[michelle, Shirl and diggerDawson, it is Kepler/PLATONIC, Sony Playstation/BETAMAX, Gramophone Awards/GRAMMY, the former being a British award for classical music, whilst the latter is an American one for popular music. Unfortunately that’s not Hemingway, but someone who normally doesn’t have a moustache.]]
I found this one on the easier side of Paul’s spectrum, but still very enjoyable. The homophones were near enough for me not to have had a problem with them.
[[Arsenal at the time were sponsored by JVC, who invented VHS, the system which defeated Betamax? Bloody hell, I don’t even like football ;-)]]
Good puzzle with a few tricky bits.
Thanks scchua; I failed to parse DISUSE and BETAMAX.
I particularly liked EMBEZZLER and SIDECAR.
[[Is that William Holden with a moustache, who appeared in ‘The Proud and the PROFANE?’]]
For the shoppin list, check this out.
Robi @ 29
I used to have one. Plus a sign to hang on the door: “Gone Chopin. Bach soon”
Simon ô¿ô
Most of the good points have been well covered above.
My late father was Polish, and used to smile at the various pronunciations of “Chopin”.
The “ch” in Polish can be like that in “Bach”, “chutzpah” etc., or the Spanish “j” in “Rajoy”, which messes it up for the purists I suppose. I’m not one…
Thanks setter, blogger and posters alike.
OK, I surrender – totally.
🙂
Another very enjoyable Paul puzzle with great cluing.
It was a little easier than some Paul’s or perhaps we are getting too used to his cluing style. I know I often now discount certain ideas with no other reason than “this is a Paul”
I failed to parse BETAMAX although it had to be the answer! Didn’t help that my parsing began with (A)BE for the topless president and ended in X for kiss. Now how to make TAMA from “to screen movie”? Ummmmmmmmmmmm
Thanks to Scchua and Paul
Brendan @ 33
I too thought (a)BE but didn’t work out all the rest – I’m glad I wasn’t alone on this!
About Chopin/shopping: see this link – http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/POLAND-ROOTS/2007-01/1168296219. Are there any Polish speakers out there?
Re. Chopin… It’s a pun and they cease to be funny when they’re over-explained. Try and see the funny side if you can…. 😉
Early this morning (well, um, after 10am) I wasn’t aware of this ‘pun’ being around for ages, apparently.
So I tried to give (myself) an explanation that worked well from a cryptic point of view.
But there was no cryptic point of view, just a pun.
So, I surrendered – happily so.
But Rorschach, as I said recently at another place, where art thou?
We haven’t seen you for a while but we should have.
Donk (aka Brill), Hob, eXternal, Alchemi but no Rorschach.
At my previous college I had a colleague who was convinced that life’s not fair ….
Schopenhauer in Finnegans Wake though: any closer?
Always enjoy Paul. Liked insane and Chopin. Ta all.
Chopin’s father was French and he himself spent most of his adult life in Paris, which is probably why the RP pronunciation of his name is semi-Frenchified.
In musical circles the pun is as old as the hills – it probably works best using unFrenchified American pronunciation; it’s certainly a bit of a stretch in normal English.
But even assuming no knowledge of that, the other aspects of the clue excuse the stretch.
“Composer before Liszt”
is exactly what he was – and both piano virtuosi – so “sounding note[s]” – ie he didn’t only compose – he played (bigtime) as well.
So “Composer” = def – as per the blog.
“Composer before Liszt”
or even (at a pinch) “Composer before Liszt sounding note”
as “extended def”. Increasingly one of my favourite constructions.
[[Yes, it is JVC/BETAMAX, and William Holden/The Proud and PROFANE. I’ve added links to the remaining answers under the pics.]]
Going back to 9a, I spent time trying to figure whether even this setter had risked referring to a different composer before Liszt, the one who has long preceded him in Cockney rhyming slang: Brahms.
Stick with the clue, and it’s just CHOPIN (rather than BRAHMS) & LISZT. The only debate is whether or not people think the homophone works. Simples.
The Shopping List clue works as a culturally-referenced pun:— Chopin Liszt is an old (and well-known) set-piece joke relying on the pronouncing of “Chopin” as “Shoppin”, and not in the French manner (“Show Pan”). Incidentally, in Polish we don’t call him “Chopin” at all, but “Szopen” pronounced (Sho-Penn), so any remarks about how we Poles pronounce CH are irrelevant!