Very entertaining from Paul today, with lots of clever cluing – 9/18ac, 21ac, 26ac, 1dn, 5/7dn and 23/20dn were particular favourites. Not too difficult though, despite some unfamiliar words at 5ac, 14ac and 27ac.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DILEMMA | Retractable shutter, a novel puzzle (7) |
| =”puzzle”. rev(LID)=”Retractable shutter”, plus EMMA=”a novel” | ||
| 5 | SNOW JOB | Suspect bows on receiving jihadi leader, flattering to deceive (4,3) |
| =”flattering to deceive”. (bows on)*, taking in J[ihadi] | ||
| 9,18 | SPLIT PERSONALITY | Go__ran Ivan__isevic? (5,11) |
| As well as having had his name SPLIT apart in the clue, Goran Ivanisevic is from the city of Split, Croatia. | ||
| 10 | REARRANGE | Selection of peaks on the bottom to shift round (9) |
| =”shift round”. RANGE=”Selection of peaks” as in mountains, after REAR=”bottom” | ||
| 11 | OSTEOPATHY | Mashed potatoes, healthy skin treatment (10) |
| =”treatment”. (potatoes)* plus H[ealth]Y | ||
| 12 | STUN | Rock loco rolled over (4) |
| =”Rock”. rev(NUTS)=”loco rolled over” | ||
| 14 | CHATTANOOGA | Boobs depicted in brief bikini on bird in US city (11) |
| =”US city”. OO=”Boobs depicted”, in TANGA, a type of bikini brief, all after CHAT, a type of “bird” | ||
| 18 | See 9 | |
| 21 | CONE | 99 in this — or two more? (4) |
| a 99 Flake ice cream would come in a CONE. Or, C is 100 in Roman numerals, plus ONE giving 101, or “two more” than 99 | ||
| 22 | COAT HANGER | Reformer inhaling grass? One’s hooked! (4,6) |
| =”One’s hooked”. CHANGER=”Reformer” around OAT=”grass” | ||
| 25 | AFTERGLOW | Bursting, flow with great warm feeling (9) |
| =”warm feeling”. (flow great)* | ||
| 26 | HONED | Polished diamonds alongside white castle? (5) |
| =”Polished”. D[iamonds] next to H ONE = h1 = starting position of White’s kingside castle in chess. | ||
| 27 | EYEWASH | A solution that’s nonsense? (7) |
| =”A solution”; =”nonsense” | ||
| 28 | RELEASE | Publish charter on outsiders in race (7) |
| =”Publish”. LEASE=”charter”, after R[ac]E | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DESPOT | Head of state locked in warehouse, the tyrant (6) |
| =”tyrant”. S[tate] inside DEPOT=”warehouse” | ||
| 2 | LOLITA | Teaser that’s funny, I thank you! (6) |
| =”Teaser”. LOL=laughed out loud=”that’s funny”, plus I plus TA=”thank you!” | ||
| 3 | MUTTON CHOP | Dog, pooch struggling to eat new cut of meat (6,4) |
| =”cut of meat”. MUTT=”Dog” plus (pooch)* around N[ew] | ||
| 4 | AORTA | Vital channel in that road going north (5) |
| =”Vital channel”. Hidden reversed in “thAT ROAd” | ||
| 5,7 | SPAGHETTI JUNCTION | Join past a network of roads? (9,8) |
| &lit. Join “past” and “a” to give “pasta network of roads” | ||
| 6 | OKRA | Doubly right, a vegetable (4) |
| =”vegetable”. OK and R[ight]=”Doubly right”, plus A | ||
| 7 | See 5 | |
| 8 | BIENNIAL | Abroad, well rested, rising every two years (8) |
| =”every two years”. BIEN=”Abroad [in France], well”, plus rev(LAIN)=”rested, rising” | ||
| 13 | ANDY WARHOL | Fake Lowry had a name on it — another artist? (4,6) |
| =”artist”. (Lowry had a n[ame])* | ||
| 15 | AYATOLLAH | Leader in Iran greeting runner, a revolutionary (9) |
| =”Leader in Iran”. reversal (“revolutionary”) of all of: HALLO=”greeting” plus TAY=”runner”=river, plus A | ||
| 16 | SPACE AGE | Modern thinker, gathering speed (5,3) |
| =”Modern”. SAGE=”thinker”, around PACE=”speed” | ||
| 17 | BRUNETTE | Race in short cap, brown on top? (8) |
| =”brown on top”. RUN=”Race”, inside BETTE[r]=”short cap”, where better=cap=surpass | ||
| 19 | AGENDA | Plan a class for the audience (6) |
| =”Plan”. Sounds (“for the audience”) like ‘a gender’=”a class” | ||
| 20 | See 23 | |
| 23,20 | TOWER BRIDGE | Adjustable borer and widget for adjustable spanner? (5,6) |
| =”adjustable spanner?”. (borer widget)* | ||
| 24 | ARIA | Given note for tuning up, then tune up for song (4) |
| =”song”. A=”note for tuning up”, being the most common note for a tuning fork, plus rev(AIR)=”tune up” | ||
Thanks manehi. Yes, half an hour or so to get to the end, but I needed you to explain HONED (the chess ref) and the bette bit of 17d. Chockful of goodies as all Paul’s are, incl the split tennis player and boobs bikini bird in the US city.
Thanks, manehi. All good fun – It’s a bit surprising to see the old chestnuts ARIA and STUN in a Paul puzzle but I suppose it’s hard to come up with other words to fit.
Not sure I agree with you about SPAGGHETTI JUNCTION being &lit. Isn’t it just a cryptic/straight double definition?
The only hold up for me was wondering if I had missed something to do with a beret in BRUNETTE but eventually I got the cap = better bit.
Thanks Paul and manehi
I found this very difficult, particularly getting started – with some letters in the finish went more easily.
I hadn’t heard of SNOW JOB and wasn’t able to parse CHATTANOOGA, HONED or BRUNETTE (I was convinced that TT was the race in the latter).
I loved “adjustable spanner” as the def. for TOWER BRIDGE.
Thanks, manehi, especially for the explanation of HONED, which I would never have got. I’ve never met SNOW JOB, either.
This was so much fun from start to finish – great variety of clues, keeping you wondering what was coming next.
I’d add 13 and 15dn [great misdirection – Leader in Iran not ‘I’; ‘revolutionary’ not ‘che’ – and an excellent surface] to the list of favourites – but, really, I loved it all.
Many thanks to Paul.
I’ve mentioned before that when I got back into cryptics three or four years ago, Paul was a setter that I always struggled with. But I’m glad I persevered, because his puzzles are invariably fun. Some inventive clueing here (OO for ‘boobs’ and the SPLIT PERSONALITY and CONE clues, for example). And thanks for explaining the chess reference in HONED – I would never have got that.
Agree that SPAGHETTI JUNCTION isn’t an &lit. Not sure what I’d call it, but it led me to the answer and put a smile on my face, so I don’t care.
Thanks to manehi and Paul.
5,7 – isn’t the “join” doing double duty to give “pasta” and (as a noun), “junction”?
Completed.
Thanks Manehi, top fun.
To my shame I entered BIANNUAL for BIENNIAL. Always been a little hazy on these two.
Was convinced that the “brief bikini” would be atol(l) and this held me up for a while.
Failed to parse HONED and wonder if this is really fair. It’s white castle’s position isn’t it, rather than the piece itself. But I wouldn’t let that spoil a super puzzle.
Many thanks, Paul.
Thanks Paul for putting a wide grin on my face with SPLIT PERSONALITY.
Thanks manehi for the parsing of CONE and HONED – I should have seen that one. Only just spotted the pasta in SPAGHETTI JUNCTION – another great clue.
Thanks all. For 5,7 I had thought that “Join” was needed for defining “Junction”, but as NeilW says “Join past a” as a cryptic def – ‘pasta’ coming together, therefore SPAGHETTI JUNCTION – and “network of roads” as the straight def does work.
William, re HONED: it is the castle’s position, but I suppose that putting D[iamonds] “alongside” the castle could imply ‘next to its position’.
Great fun, challenging but eminently doable, with lovely misdirections. Like muffin, we failed to parse brunette (misled by “beret” and “tt”) and honed – I ought to have thought of chess; and had never heard of “snow job”.
Thanks to Paul and Manehi
Thanks, manehi.
Highly entertaining puzzle from Paul, with a lot of amusing devices, misdirections and cryptic definitions.
I didn’t have any trouble with this one; there are a lot of (very good) anagram clues, which always tend to provide entry points.
My interpretation of 5d,7 was that ‘Join past a” is a JUNCTION which forms SPAGHETTI – i think this is much the same as muffin’s explanation @6. My one parsing failure was HONED – clever.
Particular favourites were SPLIT PERSONALITY, OSTEOPATHY, CONE, LOLITA, ANDY WARHOL and TOWER BRIDGE.
Thanks Paul and manehi
A very enjoyable puzzle with lots of clever cluing.
It took me a moment or two to sort out 5a – a bit too rude even for Paul I thought before getting 5d and seeing the light.
I failed to parse 17d having got caught up with Brunette races in Australia which may I suppose also be evoked by the clue. Not the first time I’ve been misled by Google!
I ticked several clues – 9a, 11a, 22a, 26a, and 23d.
ttled down at King’s Cross for a lengthy tussle on my long journey north and it’s all over by Hitchin. Not complaining though, all good fun. Thanks manehi for the blog as there were several I couldn’t parse, pretty much the same as everyone else’s, eg HONED.
COAT HANGER last in. Enjoyed explaining it to Mrs Trailman who complained that ‘inhaling’ was a bit misleading. Which is, of course, the point.
Brilliant puzzle and blog. Couldn’t parse HONED – not alone, clearly -and loved OO for boobs
Superb thank you Paul. Definitely winner of my cryptic of the day award.
Thanks to Manehi too.
Agree that this was a bit tricky in places – like muffin @3 I couldn’t parse CHATTANOOGA, HONED and BRUNETTE so thanks for clarifying those. The SE corner was last to give way – HONED was last because I needed the crosser from AGENDA to confirm it – also took too long see COAT HANGER. Liked the SPLIT PERSONALITY.
Thanks to Paul and manehi
At the risk of encouraging too much attention to Paul’s cheekier side (oops!), to me the fun of Chattanooga was not ‘boobs’ but ‘boobs depicted’. Some of you in the back row seem to think that boobs is now simply synonymous with OO per se, whereas Paul has the decency merely to suggest that’s what they may look like.
Commenting in smut is a dangerous game because it can reveal one’s own thoughts to be smuttier than what was originally intended.
Still, anyone who listens to I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue will have the smuttiest minds anyway, and I suspect it appeals to a lot of cruciverbalists. Humph called it ‘blue-chip filth’.
So fess up, tupu! Yes, I too looked at 5a and for a moment thought, it can’t be…
>on< smut,..
So is “snow job” an Americanism? Because it’s a familiar (if hardly everyday) phrase to me–if everyone else finds it obscure, then it’s probably because it’s more common this side of the Atlantic.
By the way, I’m learning! This time I saw 99 and did think of ice cream.
I “solved” Chattanooga by hunting up a U.S. city that fit (at first I only had the last two crossers, which made things interesting: “Pensacola–nope. Tullahoma? Conestoga? Carcinoma–maybe if I stare at it long enough, I’ll get that,” etc.) I needed to come here to actually parse it, I’m afraid.
Yes all very amusing. Good one.
I think the explanation for 24 isn’t quite right as it fails to include the word “Given”. The clue actually relates to :- the note given by the leader of the orchestra for tuning up.
Hi Tim @18
Thanks. I thought I’d fessed up already 🙂 .
Game, Set and Match to 9, 18! Brilliant Clue!
Thanks all
I failed to finish the SE corner but any disappointment was assuaged by 9/18.
I found this one pretty easy for a Paul puzzle, but still enjoyable. I saw SPLIT PERSONALITY as soon as I read the clue, the “I” checker that it gave me as the last letter of 5dn led me to SPAGHETTI JUNCTION straight away from its definition, and the rest of the answers just flowed out from there. The only answer that held me up for a minute or two at the end was COAT HANGER. I must have been on Paul’s wavelength today because I also saw the “H1” reference in HONED pretty quickly despite chess not really being my game.
Lots of splendid stuff as ever. Favourites 5d and 22a. Although I guessed H1 for 26a my late father would’ve been appalled that I didn’t know the chess connection.
Many thanks everyone.
I’m not an automatic Paul fan, but I thought this was terrific.
I did get & parse BRUNETTE, but have a pet dread of constructions like ‘short cap = BETTE’. I don’t know why.
The parsing of HONED is genius though, manehi (& Andy B)…respec’ for that!
‘adjustable spanner’ made my day.
…and ‘outsiders in race’ (might have to steal that some day!).
Thanks to both.
A very enjoyable puzzle from Paul.
I finished this fairly quickly. The only hold up was at the beginning when I briefly had SPLIT YUGOSLAVIAN. However the neat but fairly obvious ANDY WARHOL put me back on course.
Very quick to complete after that with lots of great clues.
Never heard of SNOW JOB but it was clear from the wordplay. (Yes I did consider the smutty answer 😉 )
I only failed to parse BRUNETTE as I too was convinced that race was TT.
Thanks to manehi and Paul
I agree with William @8. HONED is not fair. In two ways.
There nothing in ‘white castle’ to indicate any square on the board, let alone a starting position. Tacking on a ? doesn’t help.
A dozen posters here, and as many in the other place, failed to parse it. Is this a record for comments on a single clue? This aspect of chess is pretty arcane. The clue is unfair on casual and non-players, who have no need of knowledge of chess notation, beyond such as K stands for king, so, in a crossword, ‘king’ sometimes indicates K.
If this h1 idea is new I hope it doesn’t catch on. I don’t want to see allusions to b1,c1,d1,g1 or h8.
Enjoyed this, as always with Paul. Finished it; as not always the case.
Surprised to find SNOW JOB unfamiliar to so many – I vaguely thought it American, but then many Americanisms are ‘over here’, like them or not. The similarity with ‘Whitewash’ suggests its meaning though, no ?
PS I did like CONE. And the rest. Mustn’t say fun, apparently. Amusing or diverting.
Limeni says:
“I…have a pet dread of constructions like ‘short cap = BETTE’…”
==
I often have to grasp those as nettles too, Limeni.
The essence of the problem is that you don’t know HOW short/topped etc. they are, e.g. ATE could be from GRATE, BATE, BERATE or almost anything else.
Usually it’s just one letter, but far from always.
Would someone kindly explain how “boobs depicted” yields OO? All I can think of is a schoolboy drawing but that can’t be right….can it?
Also, where is Rhotician’s “other place”?
Many thanks.
William, I’m afraid it is right. I prefer ‘spectacles’ myself.
The other place is http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords
Many thanks, Rhotician, for putting me out of my mystery. Very kind of you and much appreciated.
I’m no prude and thoroughly enjoy the risques clues. Perhaps I was hoping for something less puerile. Is it even a tad sexist – or is that just me?
I had HOGWASH instead of EYEWASH for a while.
Good puzzle.
I had HOGWASH instead of EYEWASH.
Thanks Paul and manehi
Similar experience to AndyB@25 where I seemed to be on Paul’s wavelength today and finished without aids for the solve – although I did need to double check the H1 as an official chess position. COAT-HANGER was the last in. Like others, it took a little while to get off the TT thinking to fully parse BRUNETTE.
Thought that SPLIT PERSONALITY was cod, but there were a few others that were very good as well – including CHATTANOOGA, the similar 21a and 26a, LOLITA and AYATOLLAH.
Was quicker than normal to finish but a very entertaining puzzle nevertheless!
I’ll belatedly add my name to the long list of commenters who were foxed by HONED. Maybe it will encourage setters to think twice before assuming knowledge of (to me at least) obscure chess, bridge or cricket notation. Otherwise, a typically enjoyable Paul.