Guardian Cryptic N° 26,064 by Paul

by

The crossword may be found at http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/26064.

The homophones are ringing here, a standout among the witty and inventive devices which are the hallmark of Paul’s crosswords.

Across
1,23. Conservative leader punching riffraff, I read — heartless creature (11)
MOCKINGBIRD An envelope (‘punching’) of C (‘Conservative’) plus KING (‘leader’) in MOB (‘riffraff’) plus ‘I’ plus RD (‘ReaD heartless’).
5,16down. “Spinner” translates as which meaning? (7,7)
WASHING MACHINE A slightly improbable anagram (‘which translates’) of ‘as which meaning’. 
9. Plant digit on distance to encompass street (9)
MISTLETOE An envelope(‘to encompass’) of ST (‘street’) in MILE (‘distance’) plus TOE (‘digit’). 
10. Highly strung cross-dresser? (5)
VIOLA Double definition: the string instrument (‘highly strung’), and the character in Twelfth Night, who disguises herself as a man, Cesario. 
11. “A vile secretion it isn’t”, hurriedly exclaimed? (4)
SNOT Double definition. 
12. Losing our screws behind middle of cabinet is shameful (10)
INGLORIOUS A charade of I (‘middle of cabInet’) plus NGLORIOUS, an anagram (‘screws’) of ‘losing our’. 
14. Operation, why (lately) soft in voice (6)
BYPASS An envelope (‘in’) of Y (‘why’, with ‘lately’ to indicate the texting form) plus P (‘soft’) in BASS (‘voice’). 
15. An allotment of cedar, but usually mayflower (7)
ARBUTUS A hidden answer (‘an allotment of’) in ‘cedAR BUT USually’.
Epigaea repens, trailing arbutus or mayflower
16. Disgraced President Obama caught out touching Miss Universe on two fronts (7)
MUBARAK A charade of MU (‘Miss Universe’ ‘on two fronts’) plus BARAK (‘Obama’ – Bara[c]k without the C, ‘caught out’). 
18. Find swimmer swigging it on closure of boozer (6)
RARITY An envelope (‘swigging’) of R (‘closure of boozeR‘) plus ‘it’ in RAY (the fish, ‘swimmer’). 
20. Man of noble birth, yet gutless, getting personal in Oxford, say (6,4)
COUNTY TOWN A charade of COUNT (‘man of noble birth’) plus YT (‘YeT gutless’) plus OWN (‘personal’). 
21. Water, a drink that’s not very strong (4)
AQUA A subtraction: ‘a’ plus QUA[ff] (‘drink’) without FF (‘not very strong’). 
24. Lay to rest individual indefinite number managed to return (5)
INURN A charade of I (‘individulal’) plus NURN, a reversal (‘to return’) of N (‘indefinite number’) plus RUN (‘managed’, past participle). 
25. Ground-breaking invention carries rubbish, if secured (9)
SCARIFIER An envelope (‘secured’) of ‘if’ in SCARIER, an anagram (‘rubbish’) of ‘carries’. In agriculture, a scarifier is an implement to break up the surface soil. 
26. Figure holding painting back to get on vehicle (7)
ENTRAIN A reversal (‘back’) of an envelope (‘holding’) of ART (‘painting’) in NINE (‘figure’). 
27. English college, drained of ale, recalled the king’s dying moments? (7)
ENDGAME A reversal (‘recalled’) of E (‘English’) plus MAGD[ale]NE (‘college’; the final E identifies the college as that in the establishment to the north of Bletchley), ‘drained of ale’. The definition refers to chess. 
…
Down
1. One’s carrier? Something more to say? It’s a disease (5)
MUMPS A charade of MUM (‘ones carrier’) plus PS (Post Scriptum, ‘something more to say’). 
2. Detention somewhat like a trifle, say? (7)
CUSTODY A homophone (‘say’) of CUSTARDY (‘somewhat like a trifle’).
3. To say it’s landlocked is somewhat misleading? (4)
ISLE A hidden answer (‘somewhat’) in ‘mISLEading’, with an extended definition.
4. Run OK, ten stages negotiated, runner up? (3,4,6,2)
GET ONES SKATES ON A charade of GETONESSKAT, an anagram (‘negotiated’) of ‘OK ten stages’ plus a reversal (‘up’, in a down light’) of NOSE (‘runner’). 
5. Contest won hands down? (11,4)
WHEELBARROW RACE Cryptic definition. 

6. Natural phenomenon, magnificent quantity consuming river, one going on and on and on? (6,4)
SEVERN BORE An envelope (‘consuming’) of R (‘river’) in SEVEN (‘magnificent number’, referencing the film) plus BORE (‘one going on and on’). 
7. Settle on going into hiding under Iranian leadership (4,3)
IRON OUT An envelope (‘going into’) of ‘on’ in I (‘Iranian leader’) plus ROUT (‘hiding’ in the sense of a thrashing). 
8. Item often misplaced by good girls (7)
GLASSES A charade of G (‘good’) plus LASSES (‘girls’).
13. Misspell it, “Rumania” — a country (10)
MAURITANIA An anagram (‘misspell’) of ‘it Rumania a’.
16. See 5 across
– See 5 across
17. Cheer J loudly, but then ____, for the flowers (7)
BOUQUET A homophone (‘loudly’) of BOO K. 
19. Drink booked with 1 across 23, roughly speaking? (7)
TEQUILA Ouch. The culmination of progressively more playful homophones (Paul does say ‘roughly’), a reference to the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. 
22. A shade short, shake hands (5)
AGREE A charade of ‘a’ plus GREE[n] (‘shade’) curtailed (‘short’). 
23. See 1 across
– See 1 across

32 comments on “Guardian Cryptic N° 26,064 by Paul”

  1. A classic Paul – on top form!

    We loved this one, especially CUSTODY, TEQUILA and MUMPS but then we could list quite a few others which brought a smile to our faces.

    Many thanks Paul and PeterO!

  3. Thanks Paul and PeterO
    I found this a bit mixed. Some amused me – the “washing machine” anagram in particular – but others irritated (CUSTODY and TEQUILA especially).
    Also I thought that defining ARBUTUS as “mayflower” was a little unfair. Yes there is an American plant – the “trailing arbutus” – that is also known as a “mayflower” (as illustrated by PeterO), but in Europe the Arbutus is the strawberry tree. Several other plants can be known as mayflower (Cardamine pratensis, for example, has lots of names, mayflower being one).

  4. What a beaut to go with a great Times puzzle! Truly spoilt today. While I thought the three 3-letter words were highyl inventive, my favourites are MOCKINGBIRD, SNOT, BYPASS and BOUQUET, even if I don’t say it that way.

    Thanks to Peter for the explanation of ENDGAME. Having gone to the other place, I feel kind of smug I didn’t get it!

  5. Completed, and, unlike muffin, I enjoyed ‘tequila’, though I can understand why it may irritate some folk. Back in the dark ages, we had to sing ‘My Love’s an Arbutus’ in music lessons at school: I didn’t appreciate it then (probably because of my singing) but now find it a beautiful melody.

  6. Thanks Peter. It comes through as plain as anything that the setter is having as much fun as the solvers, and that is plenty. Lots of goodies here, not least the Miss Universe one, 16A. Paul’s style often gives the game away, like the boo K in 17D, but it’s still marvellous. Good on you, Paul

  7. Thanks both – enjoyed this puzzle. Two quibbles – I am old enough to remember washing machines where you had to transfer the wet washing to a separate “spinner”, and I would be upset if my lawn “scarifier” was ground-breaking!

  8. Shirl @ 7
    I was going to question “scarifier” as well, but apparently the agricultural version for breaking up clods (which I thought was “harrowing”) predates the domestic lawn version.

  9. I think molonglo is right – this is Paul having fun and inviting the rest of us to join in. I could gripe about a couple, but in the overall context of the puzzle, that’s neither here nor there. Excellent entertainment: thank you to Peter for the fine blog and to Paul for this morning’s offering.

  11. I liked CUSTODY and only wished I’d got the TEQUILA link.

    Let’s hear it for MUBARAK as well, even though ‘touching Miss Universe’ would have suited Kennedy better.

    How come the only crossword I haven’t completed this week was the Gordius?

  17. Loved this one, completed without aids in a reasonable time. I particularly enjoyed GET ONES SKATES ON – I knew the answer intuitively and could see that it was, at least partially, an anagram. It took me a little while to twig that ‘runner up’ = ‘nose’. Excellent stuff, Paul, and thanks to PeterO.

  18. Thanks, PeterO

    Nice one, Paul. A lot of good clues here – I liked the unusual anagram at 5,16d, the image conjured by 16a, and the surface of 25a, inter alia.

    Like muffin @3 I would have thought of ‘strawberry tree’ (A. unedo) rather than ‘mayflower’ for 15a; I wonder if Paul would recognise an ARBUTUS or whether it is just a word he found to fill the space? I strongly suspect the latter.

    17a is another of Paul’s trademark analogy clues. Eileen pointed out his fondness for this device the last time she blogged one of his puzzles.

  20. ulaca @4: Collins online has a facility that voices some pronunciations. For bouquet it offers both bow-kay and …
    … nose.

  21. This is a bit off topic but many will recall the discussion about BESHREW in the last Brendan crossword.

    At a Live Stream of the National Theatre’s Othello last night (excellent), I actually diverted into thinking about 15sq as poor old Desdemona uttered the very word – its a small world of words really!

  22. Apiarist @15

    Or to quote the wonderful Dutch band of the late 70s/early 80s

    She said “your nose is running honey”
    I said “I’m sorry but it’s not”

  24. Thanks PeterO and Paul

    I only got to this witty puzzle this afternoon. I found it quite hard, and missed the parsing of a couple of clues. Nonetheless quite satisfying to finish it.

    I liked 9a, 18a, 27a and 4d plus 19d in retrospect.

  25. I’ve only just got around to solving this puzzle, and it was an excellent accompaniment to my evening meal.

    I was very slow getting to grips with it, which is unusual for me for a Paul puzzle. After my first pass I hadn’t solved any of the acrosses and only three of the downs, and I was thinking for a while that it might defeat me. Thankfully it started to fall into place, and my last ones in were the SEVERN BORE/RARITY/VIOLA crossers.

    When I saw Conservative leader at 1ac and 23dn my first though was Chamberlain, especially as it can be broken down into two words, but it obviously wasn’t the right answer because the wordplay didn’t support it.

    I smiled at CUSTODY, SNOT and TEQUILA.

  26. Brilliant puzzle.

    First pass left almost the whole grid still empty 😮

    However it all slowly unravelled with a lot of aha moments and fun on the way. A fairly difficult solve without a single high vocabulary or esoteric word as an answer. A beautifully constructed crossword yet again from Paul. Watch and learn Mr P. 😉

    Thanks to PeterO and Paul

  28. I hope Araucaria will be with us for a long time, but I reckon Paul is now ‘the Master’.
    Just finished this – several had us literally laughing out loud – and how often can say that about a crossword ?

    Biggest laughs were 2d, 11a and especially 19d ! (irritating, Muffin? lighten up!) but lots of other clever constructions too.
    Though I do agree about mayflower hardly being a definition for ARBUTUS

  30. I agree that this was a great puzzle. TEQUILA and WHEELBARROW RACE being as good a pair of clues as I’ve seen for a while.

  32. Tom, if you are still looking vainly for an answer to your question, “boo k” can be pronounced bouquet – especially if you are French. Rob

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